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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
Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 9 Jan. 2025
Think Monet’s kitchen at Giverny to capture the perfect mix of fresh yellow and cerulean blue.
—Elise Taylor, Vogue, 6 Jan. 2025
The dress was hand-beaded with the colors of the ocean — cerulean, pearl, green and hues of light blue — which matched my love for the ocean and how our entire wedding day centered around it.
—Erin Clack, Peoplemag, 25 Sep. 2024
It’s centered around the base of a cerulean alpine lake, with a charming village filled with coffee shops and restaurants, and a network of hiking and biking trails spiraling out in all directions.
—Todd Plummer, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cerulean 
Dictionary Entries Near cerulean
Cite this Entry
“Cerulean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cerulean. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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cerulean
adjective
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