Cerulean
adjective /səˈruːliən/ — Deep, clear sky blue.
Definition
A deep, clear shade of sky blue; of the colour of the cloudless sky at midday.
Beyond the definition
Cerulean is more precise than 'blue'. It names the specific blue of a sky with no clouds and no pollution — a blue that implies infinite depth. Painters use it because it's exact. Poets use it because of what that blue does to the person looking at it: it creates the sensation of altitude, of looking up, of limitlessness.
Origin & history
From Latin caelum 'sky, heaven'. The colour name entered English in the 17th century and was formalised as a pigment name in the 19th century (cerulean blue, a cobalt stannate).
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The sea on that particular afternoon was cerulean — not blue but the specific blue of height and depth.
She used cerulean for the sky in the painting, and the whole canvas changed with it.
There's a particular hour in summer when even city sky turns cerulean and everything softens.
How to use it
This entry uses an adjective. Follow the examples for the nouns it describes and its position in the sentence.
Choose “Cerulean” when the meaning fits your context: A deep, clear shade of sky blue; of the colour of the cloudless sky at midday.
Synonyms
azure, sky-blue, cornflower, cobalt
Antonyms
grey, overcast
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Illustrative example
Geese flying in formation
Canada geese fly in a V-shaped formation against a vast, deep, and clear sky, showing its blue depth.
The deep, clear color of the sky is cerulean. The contrast between the geese and the intense, cloudless blue midday sky emphasizes the pure, expansive quality of this specific shade, representing a sense of vast, open clarity.
Image credit: John Benson · CC BY 2.0 (license)
Resized and converted to WebP; full composition retained.
Questions about this word
What does "Cerulean" mean?
Cerulean is adjective meaning: Deep, clear sky blue.. A deep, clear shade of sky blue; of the colour of the cloudless sky at midday.
Where does the word "Cerulean" come from?
From Latin caelum 'sky, heaven'. The colour name entered English in the 17th century and was formalised as a pigment name in the 19th century (cerulean blue, a cobalt stannate).