Standard Lemma guide

colorful

adj · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkʌl.ə.fl̩/
  • General-American: /ˈkʌl.əɹ.fl̩/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • South-Asia: /ˈkə.lə.fʊl/
  • South-Asia: /kəˈlɜr.fʊl/
  • South-Asia: [kɐ.lɜ(ː)(ɾ).fʊl]
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH1 L ER0 F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Possessing prominent and varied colors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Interesting, multifaceted, energetic, distinctive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Profane, obscene, offensive (usually in the phrase colourful language).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, euphemistic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • colored crepe paper
  • the film was in color
  • amber-colored heads of grain

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: colored, coloured

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective

Meaning 5

having striking color

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • colorful autumn leaves

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: colourful

Antonyms: colorless

6

adjective

Meaning 6

striking in variety and interest

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a colorful period of history
  • a colorful character
  • colorful language

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: colourful

Antonyms: colorless

History

Etymology

From color + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

110 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kleurvol — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Albanian: shumëngjyrësh — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Armenian: գունագեղ (gunageġ) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Breton: livek — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Bulgarian: цветист (cvetist) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Bulgarian: колоритен (koloriten) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Bulgarian: пъ́стър (pǎ́stǎr) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Catalan: colorit — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Chinese Cantonese: 五顏六色 /五颜六色 (ng5 ngaan4 luk6 sik1) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Chinese Cantonese: 花哩碌 (faa1 li1 luk1) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Chinese Mandarin: 豔 /艳 (yàn) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Cornish: liwus — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Czech: barevný — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Czech: pestrý — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Danish: farverig — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Dutch: kleurrijk — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Esperanto: bunta — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Finnish: värikäs — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • French: coloré — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Galician: colorido — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Georgian: ჭრელი (č̣reli) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: bunt — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: kunterbunt — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: farbig — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: farbenprächtig — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: farbenfroh — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • German: farbenreich — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Greek: πολύχρωμος (polýchromos) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Hawaiian: nui nā waihoʻoluʻu — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Hebrew: צִבְעוֹנִי (tsiv'oni) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Hindi: रंगीला (raṅgīlā) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Hindi: रंगीन (raṅgīn) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Hungarian: színes — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Icelandic: litríkur — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Ido: koloroza — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Irish: dathannach — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Irish: ildaite — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Italian: colorato — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Italian: variopinto — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Italian: vivace — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Japanese: カラフル — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Central Kurdish: ئاڵوواڵا (alluwalla) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Central Kurdish: ڕەنگاوڕەنگ (rengawrreng) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Northern Kurdish: rengîn — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Latin: colōrātus — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Malay: berwarna-warni — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Manx: yl-ghaait — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fargerik — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fargerik — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Pashto: رنګین (rangín) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Persian: رنگارنگ (rangârang) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Plautdietsch: bunt — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: kolorowy — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: wielobarwny — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: barwisty — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: wielokolorowy — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: różnobarwny — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: różnokolorowy — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Polish: tęczowy — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Portuguese: colorido — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Romanian: colorat — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Romanian: multicolor — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Russian: разноцве́тный (raznocvétnyj) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Russian: цвета́стый (cvetástyj) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Russian: я́ркий (járkij) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Serbo-Croatian: šaren — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Serbo-Croatian: raznobojan — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Sinhalese: වර්ණවත් (warṇawat) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Spanish: lleno — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Spanish: de color — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Spanish: lleno de color — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Swahili: ya rangi nyingi — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Swedish: färgglad — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Swedish: färgrik — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Tagalog: makulay — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Telugu: రంగురంగుల (raṅguraṅgula) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Turkish: renkli — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Turkish: alaca — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Turkish: rengarenk — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Ukrainian: різнокольоро́вий (riznokolʹoróvyj) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Ukrainian: барви́стий (barvýstyj) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Urdu: رنگین (raṅgīn) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Vietnamese: rực rỡ — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Vietnamese: sặc sỡ — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Volapük: kölagik — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Welsh: lliwgar — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Yiddish: פֿילפֿאַרביק (filfarbik) — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Zazaki: kelebelek — possessing prominent and varied colors
  • Bulgarian: интересен (interesen) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Bulgarian: колоритен (koloriten) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 豐富多彩 /丰富多彩 (fēngfùduōcǎi) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Danish: farverig — interesting, multifaceted
  • Finnish: värikäs — interesting, multifaceted
  • French: coloré — interesting, multifaceted
  • German: farbig — interesting, multifaceted
  • Polish: barwisty — interesting, multifaceted
  • Polish: barwny — interesting, multifaceted
  • Romanian: colorat — interesting, multifaceted
  • Russian: колори́тный (kolorítnyj) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Russian: я́ркий (járkij) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Spanish: de color — interesting, multifaceted
  • Ukrainian: колори́тний (kolorýtnyj) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Ukrainian: яскра́вий (jaskrávyj) — interesting, multifaceted
  • Vietnamese: đầy nghị lực — interesting, multifaceted
  • Vietnamese: đầy sinh lực — interesting, multifaceted
  • Danish: blomstrende — (euphemistic) profane
  • Finnish: värikäs — (euphemistic) profane
  • Spanish: florido — (euphemistic) profane
  • Spanish: colorado — (euphemistic) profane
  • Vietnamese: báng bổ — (euphemistic) profane
Real reading context

colorful in complete knowledge articles