Meaning & use
purple-red
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Having a color between purple and red, such as the shade of ripe plums or dark wine.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after a verb: purple-red berries, the berries are purple-red.
Patterns
- purple-red in color
The ripe cherries turned a deep purple-red.
She wore a purple-red scarf with her gray coat.
The sunset glowed purple-red behind the hills.
noununcountable
The color itself, a mix of purple and red.
Grammar: Used as a name for the hue: painted in purple-red.
Patterns
- a shade of purple-red
The artist mixed purple-red for the evening sky.
The label was printed in purple-red.
Common combinations
- deep purple-red
- The wine was a deep purple-red.
- purple-red flower
- A purple-red flower bloomed beside the gate.
- purple-red hue
- The sky took on a purple-red hue.
- purple-red stain
- A purple-red stain spread across the napkin.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- purple adjective
- a color between red and blue
- reddish-purple adjective
- a similar compound with the order reversed
- purplish adjective
- somewhat purple
- reddish adjective
- somewhat red
Commonly confused: purple-red or red-purple?
purple-red vs red-purple
Red-purple puts red first and suggests a color closer to red, while purple-red leans toward purple.
Practice
Which color would most likely be called purple-red?
Choose one answer.
Dark wine sits between purple and red. The other options have no purple or red in them.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “purple-red”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.