colorful
AmericanUsage
What does colorful mean? Colorful literally means full of color, especially a lot of different bright colors. It can also be used in a figurative way to mean rich with interesting or vividly depicted elements, such as characters or events. For example, a colorful story is one with a lot of interesting parts, locations, and especially colorful characters—people with unique (or eccentric) personalities and ways of life. A place like a restaurant or nightclub might be said to have a colorful history, meaning a lot of very interesting or unusual things have happened there. The phrase colorful language is a euphemism—it’s a polite way of referring to language that contains a lot of curse words, obscenities, or other potentially offensive terms. Colorful is sometimes used in this way in other situations as a euphemistic or humorous way of implying that something is a bit seedy, shady, or outside the mainstream, as in That place is known to have a colorful clientele, if you know what I mean—a lot of shady deals go down there. Example: The history of the museum is as colorful as the paintings that hang on its walls—it has seen some truly bizarre happenings over the years.
Other Word Forms
- colorfully adverb
- colorfulness noun
- uncolorful adjective
Etymology
Origin of colorful
Explanation
Things that are colorful are brightly colored or have many different colors. A brilliant red cardinal is a colorful bird, while a brown sparrow isn't quite as colorful. Some nutrition experts recommend eating a colorful diet, including vegetables and fruits of varied colors for optimum health. A colorful bouquet of flowers would be equally varied, perhaps with white daisies, pink roses, blue violets, and yellow carnations. Brilliantly colored things are colorful too, like a tree with orange leaves in the fall. Figuratively, colorful language is rude or coarse, and a colorful group of friends is interesting and varied.
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.
The company hopes to capture higher-margin sales and appeal to younger consumers, who are gravitating toward customized, colorful drinks as an affordable indulgence.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
Mr. Bernard offers colorful descriptions of various classic pinball machines—such as Monaco, Gorgar and Harlem Globetrotters—and explains some of the jargon surrounding them: outlanes, drop targets, nudges and tilts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Inside the room, which was draped with colorful curtains with guitars attached to them, I felt like a kid at a buffet.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
Once made, it is a beautiful shade of pink, dotted throughout with colorful fruits and berries, so serve it in your prettiest bowl because it brings plenty of visual appeal.
From Salon • Apr. 13, 2026
He pulled a small box of colorful vitamin C drops from his pocket and held it out to the mother—for the girls, he gestured.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
