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PURPLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(Roman Catholic Church) official dress of a cardinal; so named after the Tyrial purple color of the robes
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("purple" is a kind of...):
ecclesiastical attire; ecclesiastical robe (attire that is appropriate to wear in a church)
Domain category:
Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A purple color or pigment
Synonyms:
purple; purpleness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("purple" is a kind of...):
chromatic color; chromatic colour; spectral color; spectral colour (a color that has hue)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "purple"):
lavender (a pale purple color)
mauve (a moderate purple)
reddish purple; royal purple (a shade of purple tinged with red)
reddish blue; violet (a variable color that lies beyond blue in the spectrum)
Derivation:
purple (color purple)
purple (become purple)
purple (of a color intermediate between red and blue)
purpurate (color purple)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(in ancient Rome) position of imperial status
Example:
he was born to the purple
Synonyms:
purple; the purple
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("purple" is a kind of...):
nobility; noblesse (the state of being of noble birth)
Derivation:
purple (belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of a color intermediate between red and blue
Synonyms:
purple; purplish; violet
Classified under:
Similar:
chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)
Derivation:
purple; purpleness (a purple color or pigment)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
Example:
the royal carriage of a stag's head
Synonyms:
imperial; majestic; purple; regal; royal
Classified under:
Similar:
noble (of or belonging to or constituting the hereditary aristocracy especially as derived from feudal times)
Derivation:
purple ((in ancient Rome) position of imperial status)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Excessively elaborate or showily expressed
Example:
an over-embellished story of the fish that got away
Synonyms:
empurpled; over-embellished; purple
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
rhetorical (given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Color purple
Synonyms:
empurple; purple; purpurate
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "purple" is one way to...):
color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize (add color to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
purple (a purple color or pigment)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Become purple
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "purple" is one way to...):
color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Derivation:
purple (a purple color or pigment)
Context examples:
I wear nothing but purple now: I know I look hideous in it, but no matter—it is your dear brother's favourite colour.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
“But there should be another one,” cried the man in the purple coat.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She was very stout, with a face that was of so dark a red that it shaded away into purple over the nose and cheeks.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There were big yellow and white and blue and purple blossoms, besides great clusters of scarlet poppies, which were so brilliant in color they almost dazzled Dorothy's eyes.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Any spherical shaped bacteria that does not require oxygen to grow or respirate and has a peptidoglycan rich cell wall that stains dark purple with the Gram staining technique.
(Anaerobic Gram Positive Coccus, NCI Thesaurus)
While these results showed promise in using red and purple bran extracts to regulate glucose uptake in mice fat cells, additional research with humans is needed to verify the same positive effect.
(Colored Rice May Brighten the Menu for Diabetics in the Future, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
They start off a reddish color, and then turn bluish-purple and greenish-yellow before returning to normal.
(Bruises, NIH)
Any rod shaped bacteria with an oxygen based metabolism and has a peptidoglycan rich cell wall that stains dark purple with the Gram staining technique.
(Aerobic Gram Positive Bacillus, NCI Thesaurus)
The map shows lots of blue and purple in this region, representing water ice less than one foot (30 centimeters) below the surface; warm colors are over two feet (60 centimeters) deep.
(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)
The Irish Water Spaniel is the largest of the spaniels with a solid brown (leaning to purple), crisp-textured, and curly coat.
(Irish Water Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)
