vermilion

or ver·mil·lion

[ ver-mil-yuhn ]
See synonyms for vermilion on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a brilliant scarlet red.

  2. a bright-red, water-insoluble pigment consisting of mercuric sulfide, once obtained from cinnabar, now usually produced by the reaction of mercury and sulfur.

adjective
  1. of the color vermilion.

verb (used with object)
  1. to color with or as if with vermilion.

Origin of vermilion

1
1250–1300; Middle English vermilioun, vermillon<Anglo-French, Old French verm(e)illon, equivalent to vermeilvermeil + -on noun suffix

Words Nearby vermilion

Other definitions for Vermilion (2 of 2)

Vermilion
[ ver-mil-yuhn ]

noun
  1. a town in N Ohio.

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

How to use vermilion in a sentence

  • Myiozetetes similis texensis (Giraud): vermilion-crowned Flycatcher.

  • This allowed one to see four similar melting pots, each containing a fluid mass, one vermilion red, others lighter but all ruddy.

    Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander Dumas
  • But Iftikhar drew from his bosom a crystal vial, in which glowed a liquor red as vermilion.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
  • It contained a single room, walled with hard-finish and profusely etched with figures in vermilion.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • Does he think that I will leave to mulatto children the empire of the vermilion Towers, the glorious inheritance of my ancestors?

British Dictionary definitions for vermilion

vermilion

vermillion

/ (vəˈmɪljən) /


noun
    • a bright red to reddish-orange colour

    • (as adjective): a vermilion car

  1. mercuric sulphide, esp when used as a bright red pigment; cinnabar

Origin of vermilion

1
C13: from Old French vermeillon, from vermeil

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