violet

¹

[ vahy-uh-lit ]

noun

1. any chiefly low, stemless or leafy-stemmed plant of the genus Viola, having purple, blue, yellow, white, or variegated flowers. Compare violet family.
2. any such plant except the pansy and the viola.
3. the flower of any native, wild species of violet, as distinguished from the pansy: the state flower of Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
4. any of various similar plants of other genera.
5. reddish-blue, a color at the opposite end of the visible spectrum from red, an effect of light with a wavelength between 400 and 450 nanometers.

adjective

1. of the color violet; reddish-blue:

   violet hats.

Violet

²

[ vahy-uh-lit ]

noun

1. a female given name.

violet

/ ˈvaɪəlɪt /

noun

1. any of various temperate perennial herbaceous plants of the violaceous genus Viola, such as V. odorata ( sweet (or garden ) violet ), typically having mauve or bluish flowers with irregular showy petals
2. any other plant of the genus Viola, such as the wild pansy
3. any of various similar but unrelated plants, such as the African violet
4. 1. any of a group of colours that vary in saturation but have the same purplish-blue hue. They lie at one end of the visible spectrum, next to blue; approximate wavelength range 445–390 nanometres
   2. ( as adjective )

      a violet dress

5. a dye or pigment of or producing these colours
6. violet clothing

   dressed in violet

7. shrinking violet informal.
   a shy person

Derived Forms

• ˈviolet-ˌlike, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of violet¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old French violete, equivalent to viole (from Latin viola violet) + -ete diminutive suffix; -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of violet¹

C14: from Old French violete a little violet, from viole, from Latin viola violet

Idioms and Phrases

see shrinking violet .

Example Sentences

“Grammy, I made that for you,” her granddaughter Violet called out, pointing in the ash.

From Los Angeles Times

"Violet", from Virginia Beach in the US, came forward to a police officer based in her school.

From BBC

Archie York and 35-year-old Jason Laws died in the blast in Violet Close in Benwell, Newcastle, on 16 October.

From BBC

Violet Perloff, a first-year student at George Washington University in Washington, rescheduled a test and came home on the train so she could celebrate voting for the first time.

From Los Angeles Times

For art, knowledge is embedded in experience — for example, in the discernment of rhythmic patterns and spatial sensation in the undulations of blue, violet, green and neutral tones in Oskar Fischinger’s beautiful “Multi wave” oil painting from 1948.

From Los Angeles Times