colourful
US spellingcolorful
- 1Marked by a variety of bold, eye-catching colours.
A row of colourful beach huts lines the seafront.
The children painted a colourful mural on the playground wall.
Similarbright, vibrant, vivid, multicoloured
Oppositedrab, dull, colourless
- 2Interesting and full of energy, with many different sides and a strongly individual character.
The landlord is a colourful character who has a story about every regular.
His memoir describes a colourful career spent between racing circuits and film sets.
UsageOften a colourful character or a colourful past; the second can politely hint at scandal or wild living.
Similarflamboyant, lively, eventful, interesting
- 3A polite way to describe language full of swearing, obscenity or insult, usually in the phrase colourful language.
The minister was caught on a microphone using some colourful language about his colleagues.
Dad's description of the other drivers on the M25 was colourful, to say the least.
UsageMost often some colourful language or use colourful language; on its own, colourful usually means vivid or lively unless the context points to swearing.
Similarchoice, salty, crude, coarse
Note
Reporters and polite speakers reach for this when they cannot print the actual words: some colourful language tells the reader that a player swore, without a single oath on the page.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of colourful apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Formed from colour + -ful.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Colourful is formed from colour + -ful. en.wiktionary.org