cerulean

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adjective ce·ru·le·an \sə-ˈrü-lē-ən\

Definition of cerulean

: resembling the blue of the sky

cerulean was our Word of the Day on 11/01/2011. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of cerulean from the Web

The warm weather sent stateside models water bound: Irina Shayk hit the pool, her post-baby body dipping easily under the cerulean waters, and Ari Westphal posed for a kiss in Rockaway Beach.

— calin van paris, Vogue, "The Best Beauty Instagrams of the Week, From Irina Shayk's Post-Baby Body to Ari Westphal's Curls", 28 May 2017
NASA broke the news today by sharing the above photo of Pluto’s cerulean halo, taken in July by the New Horizons spacecraft.

— nick stockton, WIRED, "New Horizons Discovers Pluto Has Blue Skies and Frozen Water", 8 Oct. 2015

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cerulean'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Cerulean comes from the Latin word caeruleus, which means "dark blue" and is most likely from "caelum," the Latin word for "sky." An artist rendering a sky of blue in oils or watercolors might choose a tube of cerulean blue pigment. Birdwatchers in the eastern U.S. might look skyward and see a cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea). "Cerulean" is not the only color name that's closely associated with the sky. "Azure" (which ultimately comes from a Persian word for lapis lazuli, a rich blue stone) describes the color of a cloudless sky and can even be a noun meaning "the unclouded sky."