purple

[ pur-puhl ]

/ ˈpɜr pəl /

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noun

any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, especially one deep in tone.

cloth or clothing of this hue, especially as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.

the rank or office of a cardinal.

the office of a bishop.

imperial, regal, or princely rank or position.

deep red; crimson.

any of several nymphalid butterflies, as Basilarchia astyanax(red-spotted purple ), having blackish wings spotted with red, or Basilarchia arthemis(banded purple, or white admiral ), having brown wings banded with white.

adjective, pur·pler, pur·plest.

of the color purple.

imperial, regal, or princely.

brilliant or showy.

full of exaggerated literary devices and effects; marked by excessively ornate rhetoric: a purple passage in a novel.

profane or shocking, as language.

relating to or noting political or ideological diversity: purple politics; ideologically purple areas of the country.

verb (used with or without object), pur·pled, pur·pling.

to make or become purple.

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Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Idioms about purple

born in / to the purple, of royal or exalted birth: Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.

Origin of purple

First recorded before 1000; Middle English purpel (noun and adjective), Old English purple (adjective), variant of purpure, from Latin purpura “kind of shellfish yielding purple dye, the dye, cloth so dyed,” from Greek porphýra; cf. purpure, porphyry

OTHER WORDS FROM purple

pur·ple·ness, noun

Words nearby purple

purlin, purlin plate, purloin, purpart, purparty, purple, purple bacteria, purple beech, purple emperor, purple finch, purple foxglove

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use purple in a sentence

However, the observations in purple exceeded four inches and launched into our boom scenario.
After Sunday’s slush fest, another winter storm threatens by Wednesday night|Jason Samenow, Wes Junker|February 8, 2021|Washington Post
Schools that opened while they were in the red tier can actually open in the purple tier.
The Learning Curve: Is It Vaccines for All or No School?|Will Huntsberry|February 4, 2021|Voice of San Diego
Schools that had not offered on-campus schooling for at least one entire grade level at least part of the week during the red tier cannot expand reopenings while in the purple tier – which San Diego County is in now.
State: School Districts Like San Diego Unified Cannot Reopen Now|Ashly McGlone|January 26, 2021|Voice of San Diego
On the ceiling of a small chamber in another Sulawesi cave, the researchers found a large pig painting — like the others, executed in red or dark red and purple mineral pigments — that dates to between 32,000 and 73,400 years ago.
One of the oldest known cave paintings has been found in Indonesia|Bruce Bower|January 13, 2021|Science News

Spearheaded by Stacey Abrams and her organization Fair Fight, together with many activist and grassroots organizations, Georgia turned a brilliant deep shade of blue, very close to purple, but blue nonetheless.
Georgia Is Just the Beginning. It's Time to Tell a New Story About the South|Brittney Cooper|January 8, 2021|Time
Black and purple bunting went up over the doorway at the 84th Precinct stationhouse where Ramos and Liu had been assigned.
'Please Don't Die!': The Frantic Battle to Save Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She says that every film she makes, she has to hit someone—The Color Purple, The Butler, and Selma.
Ava DuVernay on ‘Selma,’ the Racist Sony Emails, and Making Golden Globes History|Marlow Stern|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah will never come anywhere close to being purple.
Dems, It’s Time to Dump Dixie|Michael Tomasky|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Here and there, sparingly, one of the dolls might be purple or green: “Rainbow Piets,” they call them.
Dutch Try to Save Santa’s Slave|Nadette De Visser|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Worse, when Richman woke up the next morning, her entire ear was purple.
‘My Crazy Love’ Reveals the Craziest Lies People Tell for Love|Kevin Fallon|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
Its pages are filled with the purple gowns of kings and the scarlet trappings of the warrior.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
She was in a soiled dressing gown of purple flannel, with several of the buttons off.
Rosemary in Search of a Father|C. N. Williamson
Wright's stain gives the nucleus a deep purple color and the cytoplasm a pale robin's-egg blue in typical cells.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Malarial parasites stain characteristically: the cytoplasm, sky-blue; the chromatin, reddish-purple.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for purple

purple

/ (ˈpɜːpəl) /

noun

any of various colours with a hue lying between red and blue and often highly saturated; a nonspectral colour

a dye or pigment producing such a colour

cloth of this colour, often used to symbolize royalty or nobility

the purple high rank; nobility

the official robe of a cardinal
the rank, office, or authority of a cardinal as signified by this

the purple bishops collectively

adjective

of the colour purple

(of writing) excessively elaborate or full of imagerypurple prose

noble or royal

Derived forms of purple

purpleness, nounpurplish, adjectivepurply, adjective

Word Origin for purple

Old English, from Latin purpura purple dye, from Greek porphura the purple fish (Murex)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

purple

Idioms about purple

Origin of purple

OTHER WORDS FROM purple

Words nearby purple

Words related to purple

How to use purple in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for purple

Derived forms of purple

Word Origin for purple