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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
Omari Weekes, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2025
Snuggled between lush rainforests and the cerulean Flores Sea sits Labuan Bajo, a welcoming fishing town on enchanting Flores Island.
—Sandra MacGregor, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
This year, paint manufacturers anticipate that deeper, more complex blues, such as cerulean and Prussian blue, will trend.
—Cyndy Aldred, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Jan. 2025
In Palau, low mountains rise from cerulean seas and, beneath the waves, the drama is just as pronounced.
—Jennifer Billock, Travel + Leisure, 19 Jan. 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 12 Mar. 2025.
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cerulean
adjective
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