Meaning & use
purple
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Having a color that falls between red and blue, like ripe plums or grapes.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a purple scarf, the scarf is purple. It can take a modifier: dark purple.
Patterns
- turn purple
- dark purple
She wore a purple scarf with her gray coat.
The sky turned purple at dusk.
He painted the door a deep purple shade.
nouncountable or uncountable
The color between red and blue, or a paint or dye of that color.
Grammar: Uncountable for the color in general: purple suits her. Countable for shades: several purples.
Patterns
- dressed in purple
- a shade of purple
Purple has long been linked with royalty.
The artist mixed red and blue to make a rich purple.
The room was decorated in shades of purple.
adjectivebefore a nounfigurativedisapproving
Of writing, overly decorated and dramatic, with too many flowery words.
Grammar: Used mainly in the phrases purple prose and purple passage.
Patterns
- purple prose
- a purple passage
The novel's purple prose made the plot hard to follow.
Editors cut the purple passages from his first draft.
Her early poems are too purple for modern readers.
Word forms
| comparative | purpler |
|---|---|
| superlative | purplest |
| plural | purples |
Common combinations
- deep purple
- The curtains were a deep purple.
- purple prose
- The review mocked the book's purple prose.
- turn purple
- His face turned purple with rage.
- light purple
- She chose a light purple dress for the party.
- purple patch
- The team is going through a purple patch this season.
Synonyms and how they differ
- violet
- Violet is a specific shade closer to blue, while purple is the broader everyday word.
- lavender
- Lavender is a pale, soft purple, so it names only one light shade.
- mauve
- Mauve is a pale grayish purple and sounds more refined than purple.
- florid
- Florid is the better match for the writing sense, as florid style is over-decorated, but it is more formal than purple.
Word family
Commonly confused: purple or violet? purple or puple?
purple vs violet
Violet is a bluer shade and also a flower, and learners sometimes use them interchangeably.
purple vs puple
A frequent misspelling; remember the r before the second p: purple.
Practice
A critic says an author's writing is full of 'purple prose.' What does she mean?
Choose one answer.
Purple prose means overly decorated writing. It does not mean plain, and it is not necessarily about royalty or hard to read aloud.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “purple”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.