to color in
7
1.4
- phrasal verb
- /ˈkʌlər ɪn/
- US
:
colorear
- Late that night, he crept out and discovered a wonderful world of color in her paint box.
And then beautiful, like just coloring in the room and paintings in the room.
- And then beautiful, like just coloring in the room and paintings in the room.
Examples
-
Anastasia, put more color in your cheeks!
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You got to color in between the lines!
-
What about a bit more color in there?
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Now we'll put some color in this.
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I can put some color in her cheeks.
-
Put some color in your cheeks.
-
Each day the class meets the goal, the teacher colors in a square on the Mystery Motivator chart.
Academic text (2014) -
If you have the drawing right, you're just basically coloring in as best you can after that.
-
The students will color in the outlines of their drawings during art class.
-
She likes to color in her sketches with vibrant markers.
Synonyms
854
1.0
To put coloured liquid on a surface to protect or change how it looks
228
1.0
To make something a different shade by painting or dyeing
4
4.2
Add shade to a drawing to show light and shadow
4
4.8
To add color to black-and-white photos or films using software
4
2.4
To mark something with a colored liquid used for writing
1
2.5
Put paint on something to make it look better
1
3.9
To draw or color using a wax stick
To add color to a black and white photo or print by hand
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to add color to a drawing by filling in areas' is directly derivable from 'color' (to apply pigment) plus the directional/prepositional sense of 'in' (inside boundaries). This verb + particle composition is a standard, cross-linguistically common pattern (apply color into an area), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Color in comes from the simple picture of filling a drawing: you put color in the empty spaces inside the lines like with crayons or paint. That's why it means 'to add color to a drawing by filling in areas'.