cobalt blue
5
3.7
- noun
- /ˈkoʊbɔlt blu/
:
azul cobalto
- The artist chose a vibrant cobalt blue for the sky in her painting.
- cobalt blue sky
- cobalt blue decoration
- cobalt blue color
Examples
-
Cobalt blue wrought-iron posts guarded the windows, anticipating the very unlikely possibility of a break-in.
Fiction book (1999) -
The women looked up at a cobalt blue sky or shyly down.
Fiction book (1998) -
Just behind us was the deep cobalt blue of the pool the women of the sultan had once enjoyed.
Fiction book (1990) -
My living room and dining room are both done in combinations of this green and cobalt blue.
Blog text (8) -
A bathing beauty sits on the beach under a cobalt blue sky.
Fiction book (1991) -
The soft waving cobalt blue disappeared on the horizon.
Fiction book (1992) -
Approached along the main road from the historic city, the hall's cobalt blue exterior has a temporal, ghostly quality.
Blog text (31) -
The captain and the science officers stare through the plexi-dome and out into the freezing, cobalt blue of the Palawan Trough.
Fiction book (1998) -
Art patrons enjoyed beautiful things: manicured gardens, cobalt blue, celadon and crackled glaze porcelains, carved lacquers, antiques, and beautiful people.
Academic text (1996) -
She wore a stunning cobalt blue dress that caught everyone's attention at the party.
Synonyms
26
3.7
A green-blue color like the water in a tropical sea
16
2.3
A light bluish-green color like sea water
3
8.8
A deep blue color like a clear bright sky
3
4.6
A pale blue-green color like the sea
2
3.7
A pale blue color with a slight grey tint
1
7.4
A dark blue color with a little green that artists use for painting
1
7.6
A bright deep blue color used in paint
1
2.5
A blue color with a little green in it
1
3.8
A bright blue color with a green tint like a peacock's feathers
1
8.6
A light greenish-blue paint color often used for skies or seas
1
1.6
A color that is a mix of blue and green
A greenish-blue color used in paint and pottery made from cobalt
How Blue
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a compositional color name: knowing 'cobalt' (the metal/pigment source) and 'blue' lets a learner infer it denotes a shade of blue associated with cobalt. Color-naming by material or source is a common, predictable pattern across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably understand the meaning.
Etymology
Cobalt blue is named after the metal cobalt. Old miners called a tricky ore 'kobold' (a 'goblin'), and when artists made a bright blue pigment from cobalt, the metal's name became the name of the deep 'blue' we use today.