purple

[ pur-puhl ]

noun

1. any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, especially one deep in tone.
2. cloth or clothing of this hue, especially as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.
3. the rank or office of a cardinal.
4. the office of a bishop.
5. imperial, regal, or princely rank or position.
6. deep red; crimson.
7. any of several nymphalid butterflies, as Basilarchia astyanax red-spotted purple, having blackish wings spotted with red, or Basilarchia arthemis banded purple, or white admiral, having brown wings banded with white.

adjective

, pur·pler, pur·plest.

1. of the color purple.
2. imperial, regal, or princely.
3. brilliant or showy.
4. full of exaggerated literary devices and effects; marked by excessively ornate rhetoric:

   a purple passage in a novel.

5. profane or shocking, as language.
6. relating to or noting political or ideological diversity:

   purple politics; ideologically purple areas of the country.

verb (used with or without object)

, pur·pled, pur·pling.

1. to make or become purple.

purple

/ ˈpɜːpəl /

noun

1. any of various colours with a hue lying between red and blue and often highly saturated; a nonspectral colour
2. a dye or pigment producing such a colour
3. cloth of this colour, often used to symbolize royalty or nobility
4. the purple
   high rank; nobility
5. 1. the official robe of a cardinal
   2. the rank, office, or authority of a cardinal as signified by this
6. the purple
   bishops collectively

adjective

1. of the colour purple
2. (of writing) excessively elaborate or full of imagery

   purple prose

3. noble or royal

Derived Forms

• ˈpurpleness, noun
• ˈpurplish, adjective
• ˈpurply, adjective

Other Words From

• purple·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of purple¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English purpel (noun and adjective), Old English purple (adjective), variant of purpure, from Latin purpura “kind of shellfish yielding purple dye, the dye, cloth so dyed,” from Greek porphýra; purpure, porphyry

Word History and Origins

Origin of purple¹

Old English, from Latin purpura purple dye, from Greek porphura the purple fish ( Murex )

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. born in / to the purple, of royal or exalted birth:

   Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.

Example Sentences

Mattresses still wrapped in purple and green bedsheets stuck out of the rubble.

From New York Times

Longtime locals wondered if a pandemic-era influx of new residents from more urban parts of California — most of them Democrats or independents — had forever purpled the place.

From Los Angeles Times

At his residence in Woodbridge, police said they found a bigger prize: a stolen purple McLaren worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

From Los Angeles Times

If they’re blue or red, their voters are relegated to the cheap seats as distant spectators to the main event being fought in a few purple swing states.

From Los Angeles Times

The timer signaling for Anthony Davis to take his feet out of the purple ice bucket kept ringing, but no one stopped it.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• color
• lavender
• lilac
• mauve
• periwinkle
• plum
• violet