What does "scarlet" mean?
A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
Scarlet
/ˈskɑɹlɪt/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
- Grammar: scarlet is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: vermilion, blood-red, brick red, bricky.
- Useful contrasts: colorless, colorless fabric, dull.
- Usage evidence: Wow! The color scarlet is beautiful.
How to use "scarlet"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "scarlet" 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 "scarlet" 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 "scarlet" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "scarlet" 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 "scarlet" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb 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 "vermilion" 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 "scarlet", 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 brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange. countable, uncountable
"Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture."
- 2 a variable color that is vivid red but sometimes with an orange tinge wordnet
- 3 Cloth of a scarlet color. countable, uncountable
"All her household are clothed with scarlet."
Verb
- 1 To dye or tinge (something) with scarlet. transitive
"Forbeare; the aſhy paleneſſe of my cheeke / Is ſcarletted in ruddy flakes of vvrath: […]"
Adjective
- 1 Of a bright red colour.
"Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines."
- 2 Sinful or whorish.
"a scarlet woman"
- 3 Blushing; embarrassed or mortified. Ireland
"He signed off our correspondence, “Well thank God for facemasks, cos I’m scarlet”."
Adjective
- 1 of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A female given name from English, a modern variant of Scarlett, or from the common noun scarlet.
"It's not just Ribbons either. It's - get ready for this - Scarlet Ribbons. From an old Harry Belafonte record my mom had when she was about ten or something. When she grew up she was going to have a little girl and call her Scarlet Ribbons."
Example
"Wow! The color scarlet is beautiful."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "scarlet"?
Common synonyms include: vermilion, blood-red, brick red, bricky, brilliant, cardinal.
How do you use "scarlet" in a sentence?
Wow! The color scarlet is beautiful.
How do you pronounce "scarlet"?
Pronounced /ˈskɑɹlɪt/.
Etymology
From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to be used of woollen cloth dyed with the same dye. The Arabic word may itself be derived from Byzantine Greek σιγιλλᾶτον (sigillâton), from Latin sigillātum (“a type of fabric”, literally “sealed; sealing”) .