Dollar Words #2: Cerulean

Our second Dollar Word is a little out of place in the curriculum, but one of my classes is writing about Latin in their weekly essay, so, if they're sharp (and notice this), they can find an argument for their essay. For everybody else, it's still a great word to know for writing.

cerulean - sky blue.

Usage Notes - "Cerulean" is a great word to use in your writing to help establish mood. It specifically refers to the blue of a sky-blue sky, and has connotations of peace and happiness. It helps a smart writer to establish a calm, pleasant mood in a sensory detail, either in an essay (to be convincing) or in a story (to indicate a happy point in the story). Cerulean is an adjective, which means that you should use it to modify an noun (the sky, blue eyes, the color of a dress)

Examples:

Suddenly, after days of rain, the clouds parted and a cerulean sky revealed itself - we could play the championship game after all.

I can close my eyes and visualize it now - the healthy, svelte youngsters playing under cerulean skies.

For such a gruff, irascible person, my football coach certainly drove an incongruous car - a cerulean two-seat convertible. (Here we're using it to create a contrast, "incongruous" means "not matching, unexpected, clashing")


Etymology:
"Cerulean" is derived directly from the Latin word for "sky" and "blue. It's been an English word for about 500 years.