scarlet

Pluralscarlets

Formsscarlets, scarleting, scarleted

1. 1
   adjective

   Of a bright red color, sometimes leaning toward orange.

   A scarlet banner snapped above the castle gate.

   The cardinal's scarlet robes stood out against the gray stone.

   Similarred, crimson, vermilion

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A vivid red, sometimes carrying a hint of orange.

   The flag's scarlet had faded after years in the sun.

   Painters prized scarlet for its warmth and intensity on canvas.

   Similarvermilion, crimson, red

   Note

   The color takes its name from a fabric, not the other way round. Middle English scarlet came through Old French escarlate, "a type of cloth", from Medieval Latin scarlatum, "scarlet cloth", whose own origin is uncertain. As a noun it works both ways: a particular scarlet, or scarlet as a mass. In scarlet lips the word has crossed over to the everyday adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Marked by sin or sexual immorality.

   Society cast her out as a scarlet creature unfit for decent company.

   He railed against the scarlet pleasures of the gambling dens.

   Similarsinful, immoral, wicked, licentious, depraved

   Oppositevirtuous, chaste, pure

   Note

   Moral judgment borrowed from a color: a scarlet woman is not a woman dressed in red but one condemned as sinful or sexually immoral. The word sits before the noun it labels. It is a verdict rather than a description, so it carries the speaker's disapproval wherever it goes. Read it as censure, and use it only when that censure is meant.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Fabric dyed a brilliant red.

   The tailor draped a length of scarlet across the counter.

   Only the wealthy could afford robes cut from scarlet.

   Note

   Here the word does its oldest job, naming the cloth itself, which is why the color carries a fabric's name. The King James Bible of 1611 uses it as a mass noun after a verb of dressing: "All her household are clothed with scarlet." Clothed with scarlet and dressed in scarlet treat the word like wool or silk, with no article in front.

5. 5
   adjectiveIreland

   Flushed deep red in the face from embarrassment or shame.

   Her cheeks were scarlet by the time the applause finally died down.

   He turned scarlet when his mistake was announced to the whole office.

   Similarred, crimson, flushed, blushing

   Oppositepale

   Note

   An Irish way of saying you are mortified, naming the feeling and not just the face. It stands on its own after be, as in "cos I'm scarlet," from a 2021 piece by Aisling Marron, with no need to add with embarrassment. Where most English speakers would say they turned scarlet, an Irish speaker can simply be scarlet.

   I was scarlet when the teacher read my essay out to the class.

   Don't remind me of the wedding speech, I'm still scarlet.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To dye or tint something a brilliant red.

   Dyers scarlet the wool using crushed insects and mordant.

   She scarleted the trim by hand before the parade.

   Similarredden

   Note

   The verb can color with feeling as well as with dye. In John Ford's Love's Sacrifice (1633), a pale cheek "is scarletted in ruddy flakes of wrath." It takes a direct object, and Ford's passive shows how naturally it describes a face overtaken by anger. Ford doubles the t, but the modern forms are scarleted and scarleting.

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