scarlet
Americannoun
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a bright-red color inclining toward orange.
-
cloth or clothing of this color.
adjective
-
of the color scarlet.
-
flagrantly offensive.
Their sins were scarlet.
noun
-
a vivid red colour, sometimes with an orange tinge
-
cloth or clothing of this colour
adjective
-
of the colour scarlet
-
sinful or immoral, esp unchaste
Etymology
Origin of scarlet
1200–50; Middle English < Old French escarlate < Medieval Latin scarlata, scarletum, perhaps < Arabic saqirlāṭ, siqillāṭ < Medieval Greek sigillátos < Latin sigillātus decorated with patterns in relief; sigillate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the film, Huppert's countess character returns to life in a scarlet red funeral barge sailing into in the Seegrotte, an underground Viennese lake popular with tourists.
From Barron's
She stared up, and Fire Mountain was still shooting scarlet stars, a glow of red on the gray cone, but the lava hadn’t followed them and they were safe at home.
From Literature
Studies show that ʻiʻiwi, also known as the scarlet honeycreeper, face a mortality rate of about 90 percent if infected.
From Science Daily
“I am Llewelyn the Fifteenth, Prince of the Red Woods,” he said while wringing the water from his long scarlet cape.
From Literature
Mama said something about scarlet fever, Daddy said something else about mumps or chicken pox, Mama was calling the doctor, Daddy was wrapping me up in a blanket and putting me in the truck.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
