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There comes a moment in every young crayon user’s life when they graduate from the 8-count (or 16-count, perhaps) box to the treasure trove of 64 glorious sticks of differently colored wax, when they discover that there isn’t just one brown or orange or blue, that when it comes to colors, the sky’s the limit! Such a moment is often the first encounter people have with the word cerulean, a word that slips sibilantly off the tongue like a balmy ocean breeze. Like azure, cerulean describes things whose blue color resembles that of a clear sky; it’s often used in literature (especially travel writing) to paint an enticing image of an even more enticing vista, as in “the cerulean waters of a tropical lagoon.” While azure is thought to hail from the Persian word lāzhuward, with the same meaning, cerulean comes from the Latin adjective caeruleus, meaning “dark blue.” That word most likely comes from caelum, meaning “sky.”
Examples of cerulean in a Sentence
Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 21 Apr. 2026
Vintage cerulean cocktail attire may be expensive and difficult to source.
—Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, Martha Stewart, 15 Apr. 2026
Try painting your trim in cerulean blue instead; for homes with millwork walls, this adds a fresh pop of inspiring color.
—Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Apr. 2026
Azure, sapphire, and cerulean anchor the interiors, mirroring the horizon beyond the glass.
—Andrew Sessa, Robb Report, 5 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cerulean
Cite this Entry
“Cerulean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cerulean. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cerulean
adjective
