What does "purple" mean?
A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.
Purple
/ˈpɝ.pl̩/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.
- Grammar: purple is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: violet, adorned, amaranth, amethyst.
- Useful contrasts: nonpurple, blue state, colorless.
- Usage evidence: The color is purple rather than pink.
How to use "purple"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "purple" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "purple" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "purple" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "purple" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "purple" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "violet" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "purple", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta. countable, uncountable
"Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold / The Clouds that on his Weſtern Throne attend."
- 2 (Roman Catholic Church) official dress of a cardinal; so named after the Tyrial purple color of the robes wordnet
- 3 Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red. countable, uncountable
- 4 a color between red and blue wordnet
- 5 Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity. countable, uncountable
"to put on the imperial purple"
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 (in ancient Rome) position of imperial status wordnet
- 7 Imperial power. broadly, countable, uncountable
"1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire He was born in the purple."
- 8 Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk. countable, uncountable
- 9 The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana. countable, uncountable
""Sure, some purple Owlsley.""
- 10 Purpura. countable, uncountable
- 11 Earcockle, a disease of wheat. countable, uncountable
- 12 Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis). countable, uncountable
"the banded purple"
- 13 A cardinalate. countable, uncountable
- 14 Ellipsis of purple drank. US, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, slang, uncountable
"Fishtailing out the parking lot leaving Magic / Sipping on the purple and the yellow, drinking magic"
- 15 Synonym of snakebite and black. UK, countable, slang, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To turn purple in colour. intransitive
"[T]he Capri cliffs, the tops of which were still pink against the purpling sky."
- 2 color purple wordnet
- 3 To dye purple. transitive
"Year after year unto her feet, / She lying on her couch alone, / Across the purpled coverlet, / The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, […]"
- 4 become purple wordnet
- 5 To clothe in purple. transitive
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To pursue the opposite gender in inappropriate circumstances, usually of adolescents. (From the metaphor of mixing blue [boys] and pink [girls].) US, intransitive, slang
Adjective
- 1 Of a purple hue.
"So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams."
- 2 Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support. US
"purple state"
- 3 Mixed between social democrats and liberals. Belgium, Netherlands
- 4 Imperial; regal.
"Grovel on the earth: aye, hide / In the dust thy purple pride!"
- 5 Blood-red; bloody.
"O may ſuch purple teares be alway ſhed"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Of language, extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.
"Near-synonyms: flowery, overwrought"
- 7 Of a sector, lap, etc., completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.
Adjective
- 1 of a color intermediate between red and blue wordnet
- 2 belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler wordnet
- 3 excessively elaborate or showily expressed wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from Middle English. rare
Example
"The color is purple rather than pink."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "purple"?
Common synonyms include: violet, adorned, amaranth, amethyst, amethystine, aubergine.
How do you use "purple" in a sentence?
The color is purple rather than pink.
How do you pronounce "purple"?
Pronounced /ˈpɝ.pl̩/.
Etymology
From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.