purple

UK: /ˈpɜː^rp^əl/ US: /ˈpɝpəl/ ,(pûr′pəl)

Inflections of 'purple' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

purples

v 3rd person singular

purpling

v pres p

purpled

v past

purpled

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

pur•ple /ˈpɜrpəl/   n., adj., -pler, -plest. 
n. 

1. any color having both red and blue, esp. one deep in tone:
   [uncountable] colored rich, dark purple.
   [countable] a rich, dark purple.

adj. 

2. of the color purple.
3. Rhetoric exaggerated and too ornate:
   purple prose.
4. profane or shocking, as language.

Idioms

5. Idioms born to the purple, of royal birth.

pur•plish, adj. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pur•ple  (pûr′pəl), n., -pler, -plest, adj., v., -pled, -pling. 
n. 

1. any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, esp. one deep in tone.
2. cloth or clothing of this hue, esp. as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.
3. Religion the rank or office of a cardinal.
4. the office of a bishop.
5. imperial, regal, or princely rank or position.
6. deep red;
   crimson.
7. Insects any of several nymphalid butterflies, as Basilarchia astyanax (red-spotted purple,) having blackish wings spotted with red, or Basilarchia arthemis (banded purple or white admiral,) having brown wings banded with white.
8. Idioms born in or to the purple, of royal or exalted birth:
   Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.

adj. 

9. of the color purple.
10. imperial, regal, or princely.
11. brilliant or showy.
12. Rhetoric full of exaggerated literary devices and effects;
    marked by excessively ornate rhetoric:
    a purple passage in a novel.
13. profane or shocking, as language.

v.t., v.i. 

14. to make or become purple.

• Greek porphýra; compare purpure, porphyry
• Latin purpura kind of shellfish yielding purple dye, the dye, cloth so dyed
• Middle English purpel (noun, nominal and adjective, adjectival), Old English purple (adjective, adjectival), variant of purpure bef. 1000

pur′ple•ness, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

purple / ˈpɜːp^əl/ noun

1. a dye or pigment producing such a colour
2. cloth of this colour, often used to symbolize royalty or nobility
3. the purple ⇒ high rank; nobility
4. the official robe of a cardinal
5. the rank, office, or authority of a cardinal as signified by this

adjective

1. of the colour purple
2. (of writing) excessively elaborate or full of imagery: purple prose
3. of or relating to disabled people or disability: the purple pound
4. not historically or habitually supporting either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party: purple states, purple voters

Etymology: Old English, from Latin purpura purple dye, from Greek porphura the purple fish (Murex)

ˈpurpleness noun

ˈpurplish adjective

ˈpurply adjective