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• true blue
  true blue

  noun

  a nonfading blue dye or pigment.
• true-blue
  true-blue

  adjective

  unwaveringly loyal or faithful; staunch; unchangingly true.

true blue

¹ American  

noun

1. a nonfading blue dye or pigment.

2. a person who is true-blue.

3. (in the 17th century) the color adopted by the Covenanters in contradistinction to the royal red.

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true-blue ² American  

[troo-bloo] / ˈtruˈblu /

adjective

1. unwaveringly loyal or faithful; staunch; unchangingly true.

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true-blue British  

adjective

1. unwaveringly or staunchly loyal, esp to a person, a cause, etc

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noun

1. a staunch royalist or Conservative

true blue Idioms  

1. Loyal, faithful, as in You can count on her support; she's true blue. This expression alludes to the idea of blue being the color of constancy, but the exact allusion is disputed. One theory holds it alludes to the unchanging blue sky, another to the fastness of a blue dye that will not run. Blue has been the identifying color of various factions in history. In the mid-1600s the Scottish Covenanters, who pledged to uphold Presbyterianism, were called true blue (as opposed to red, the color of the royalists). In the 1800s the same term came to mean “staunchly Tory,” and in America, “politically sound.”

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Etymology

Origin of true blue¹

First recorded in 1665–75

Origin of true-blue²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain; perhaps associated with the Covenanters (Scottish Presbyterians) of the 17th century, whose flag, a white St. Andrew’s Cross on a blue field (still the national flag of Scotland), was in opposition to the red scarves of the Royalist cavalry

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

true blue true-blue

She needs all the friends she can get, and the Twin Cities folks are true blue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026

Only one class of plant pigments has achieved a true blue: anthocyanins.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 14, 2023

"He had been a true blue Kiwi boy," says Smellie.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2023

What if we baked a true blue loaf of crusty bread in about the time it takes to make the rest of dinner?

From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2023

Which made any upright, true blue Milagro citizen, knowing the odds in favor of the early Death of the Fruit Tree Blossoms, just about vomit.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

They organized visits from true-blue French soccer ultras for a cultural exchange: the Europeans taught chants while the Texans taught barbecue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

This is a true-blue house shoe: deeply uncomfortable and designed for short-distance travel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2023

Remember the true-blue flowering bandwagon we gardeners found ourselves on in the late ’90s?

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2023

In her research, Petrzela found Banerjee had tried hard to assimilate and become a true-blue California businessman, yet in the memory of her interviewees his Indian accent stood out.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2023

She once called Lucy my “some-timey friend,” meaning Lucy wasn’t true-blue.

From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia