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English (UK)

Meaning of purple in English

purple
adjective
uk
/ˈpɜː.pəl/ us
/ˈpɝː.pəl/

purple adjective (COLOUR)

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A2
of a dark reddish-blue colour:
purple plums
a dark purple bruise
purple with rage (mainly UK purple in the face)
dark red in the face because of anger:
By this point, and purple with rage, all I could think of saying was, "I think we'll have to agree to disagree."
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purple patch
UK
a period of success:
Often a company will go through a purple patch of achievement because of a talented director at the helm.
United could have extended their lead during a purple patch following the goal.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Common colours
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purple adjective (STYLE)

UK
used to describe a piece of writing that is complicated or sounds false because the writer has tried too hard to make the style interesting:
Despite occasional patches of purple prose, the book is mostly clear and incisive.
The prose is quite purple, filled with ridiculous adjectives and unnecessary descriptions.
She shuns the purple passage in favour of concise, striking images.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Complexity
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purple adjective (POLITICS)

US
used to describe an area where a similar number of people usually vote Republican and Democrat, so that a small number of votes can change the result in elections:
This group of voters has potential to tip the balance in two or more purple states.
She has to run against a Democrat in a district that’s mighty purple.
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blue state
red state
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International relations: United States politics & government
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Related word

purpleness
purple
noun [ C or U ]
uk
/ˈpɜː.pəl/ us
/ˈpɝː.pəl/
A2
a dark reddish-blue colour:
Purple is my favourite colour.
The evening sky was full of purples and reds.
 
beyhan yazar/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages
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Less common colours
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(Definition of purple from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

purple | American Dictionary

purple
adjective, noun [ C/U ]
us
/ˈpɜr·pəl/
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(of) the color that is a mixture of red and blue:
a purple dress
[ C ] The walls are a pale purple.
(Definition of purple from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of purple

purple
Measurements with a uniform purple or lime background are shown by solid purple or lime triangles, respectively.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Both purple-lime and lime-purple patterns were used in the experiments.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
All the other counter-stains employed gave variable and inconsistent results, often with a preponderance of purple.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Either the purple bacteria have acquired the photosynthesis genes recently by lateral gene transfer or selective pressure forced various species to retain these organizational patterns.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In this review we use the names of many different purple bacteria.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The purple bacteria, therefore, must ' make their living ' by utilizing green light and far-red light of wavelengths above 750 nm.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Directed picosecond excitation transport in purple photosynthetic bacteria.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
When he gets older, the color scheme subtlety changes from reds to purples to blues, depicting maturity and loss of vitality.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Dehydration of biological membranes by cooling : an investigation on the purple membrane.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Further characterization of the protein secondary structure in purple membrane by circular dichroism and polarized infrared spectroscopies.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A sodium reagent is used and the chloride ions are reacted with mercury and diphenylcarbazone to form a purple colour.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Would the organism generalize the pecking behavior in response to a purple key?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Fuchsia flowers themselves contain a wide variety of purples.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
In this passage, weolocread has been deemed appropriate for both scarlet and purple or, possibly, crimson.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The c. 25 m of purple, fine-grained sandstones below include quartz-arenitic intercalations and have an essentially calcareous matrix.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of purple?
 

Translations of purple

in Chinese (Traditional)
顏色, 紫色的，紫紅色的, 風格…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
颜色, 紫色的，紫红色的, 风格…
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in Spanish
morado, violáceo, dividido entre republicanos y demócratas…
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in Portuguese
roxo, púrpura, dividido entre republicanos e democratas…
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जांभळा / काळानिळा, जांभळा…
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紫色の, 紫（色）, 紫色（むらさきいろ）の…
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mor…
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violet/-ette, pourpre, violet [masculine]…
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morat…
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purper…
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அடர் சிவப்பு-நீல நிறத்தின், அடர் சிவப்பு-நீல நிறம்…
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जामुनी, बैंगनी रंग का, (रंग) जामुनी…
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જાંબલી, જાંબલી રંગ…
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violet, purpur…
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purpur, mörklila…
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ungu…
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purpurn…
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purpurfarget, purpur [neuter], purpur…
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بینگنی رنگ کا, بینگنی رنگ…
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пурпурний колір…
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фиолетовый…
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వంగపండు రంగు, దట్టమైన ఎరుపు-నీలం రంగు:ఊదా రంగు…
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بَنَفْسَجي, اللون البَنفسِجي…
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বেগুনি, বেগুনি রং…
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nach(ový)…
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ungu…
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สีม่วง…
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màu đỏ tía…
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fioletowy…
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보라색의, 보라색…
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viola, porpora…
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purling
purloin
purloined
purloining
purple
purple coneflower
Purple Heart
purple loosestrife
purple prose

Word of the Day

technicolor

UK
/ˈtek.nɪˌkʌl.ər/
US
/ˈtek.nɪˌkʌl.ɚ/

having a lot of bright colours

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