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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
Kathryn Romeyn, AFAR Media, 16 May 2025
The ocean was varying shades of blue, from turquoise to cerulean to cobalt.
—Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2025
Indeed, a yacht trip around the island reveals only a handful of other boats, turning cerulean lagoons into private swimming pools.
—Lee Cobaj, Robb Report, 1 May 2025
Cross-back wooden chairs with cushions in a light cerulean shade reflect the color of the sky overhead.
—Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 11 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cerulean
Cite this Entry
“Cerulean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cerulean. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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cerulean
adjective
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