powder blue
3
3.4
- adjective
- /ˈpaʊdər blu/
- The walls of the nursery were painted a soft powder blue, creating a calm environment for the baby.
- powder blue suit
- powder blue shirt
- powder blue tuxedo
Examples
-
She wore a pair of powder-blue pajamas, and her hair was twisted and fastened in the back into pigtails.
Fiction book (2002) -
Cordy picked out a powder blue one.
Fiction book (1990) -
We were gonna go with powder blue.
-
It's kind of like a powder blue, coral blue.
-
The powder blue exterior of the Book Gallery was attractive, with its little white tables.
Fiction book (1990) -
Powder blue leisure suit.
-
Jimmy wore white trousers and a powder-blue blazer with a dark blue knit tie.
Fiction book (1991) -
They drove in the powder blue Thunderbird all the way to San Francisco, choosing roads to detour on and music for the tape deck.
Fiction book (1992) -
Dot stepped over the pile of ironed and unfolded dresses, pastel mint greens and powder blues.
Fiction book (1990) -
Janice, wearing a soft salmon-colored running suit with powder-blue sleeves and pants stripes, leads, and Nelson, Roy, Pru, and Judy, all in their airplane clothes, follow, hurrying to keep up.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
26
1.0
A pale shade of blue like the sky on a clear day
26
1.2
Slightly blue in color
19
1.0
A light, soft shade of blue like the sky
1
3.0
A blue color with a little purple in it
1
4.8
A light soft blue color like pale flowers or a clear sky
Antonyms
How Pale
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a pale or muted blue' is directly signalled by combining 'powder' (suggesting something fine, light, or powdered) with 'blue', so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a delicate/light shade of blue. This is a regular adjectival compound describing a color and follows common cross-linguistic patterns, making it readily comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Powder blue as an adjective may come from the same idea of a soft, dusty powder with a light blue color used by tailors and laundries long ago. So the phrase now describes something that is 'a soft, pale blue'.