roseate

adjective

ro·​se·​ate ˈrō-zē-ət How to pronounce roseate (audio)
-zē-ˌāt
1
: resembling a rose especially in color
2
: overly optimistic : viewed favorably
roseately adverb

Did you know?

"Everything's coming up roses." "He views the world through rose-tinted glasses." "She has a rosy outlook on life." In English, we tend to associate roses and rose color with optimism, and roseate is no exception. Roseate comes from the Latin adjective roseus, and ultimately from the noun rosa, meaning "rose." Figurative use of roseate (with the meaning "happy" or "smiling") began in the 18th century, but the literal sense of the term has been in the language since the 15th century. It's especially well-suited to literary descriptions of sunrises and sunsets: "through yon peaks of cloud-like snow / The roseate sunlight quivers," wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley in Prometheus Unbound. And in an early short story, Edith Wharton wrote, "The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered late in the west."

Examples of roseate in a Sentence

a bird with roseate feathers one analyst who envisions a qualifiedly roseate future for the nation's automotive industry
Recent Examples on the Web The elements coalesced in a moment that was both polished and playful, the vibe rounded out by some go-to makeup touches—roseate lips, power brows, and a few swipes of mascara. Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2022 Cape Cod: Large numbers of shearwaters offshore including 2,250 great shearwaters, 750 Cory’s shearwaters, 90 sooty shearwaters, and 100 manx shearwaters, in addition to a Baird’s sandpiper, a black tern, and three roseate terns. BostonGlobe.com, 13 Aug. 2022 And Billie Eilish took the self-facing art form back to its roots with a series of pouty mirror snaps with a mussed chop and roseate blush. Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 24 July 2022 Carnivores also include reptiles like the Burmese python and the gharial, birds like vultures and roseate spoonbills, and some cuter mammals like otters and seals. Zachary Smith, cleveland, 26 May 2022 An elegant pompadour updo worn with a soft-focus glow punctuated by roseate smoky eyes, fluttery falsies, and a bright cherry red lip. Lauren Valenti, Vogue, 28 Mar. 2022 Visitors can spot egrets, anhingas, ducks, eagles, hawks, vultures, gallinules, osprey, blackbirds, roseate spoonbills, woodpeckers and more. Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 31 Dec. 2021 These ringing blue skies, these wide roseate plains, these great, windy sweeps of land exist nowhere else. Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021 From Georges Island in Boston Harbor, sightings included flyby eight great shearwaters, a Cory’s shearwater, 16 Wilson’s storm-petrels, a whimbrel, a Forster’s tern, 12 roseate terns, and two cliff swallows. BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'roseate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English roseat, borrowed from Medieval Latin roseātus, from, Latin roseus "made of roses, rose-colored, reddish" (from rosa rose entry 2 + -eus -eous) + -ātus -ate entry 3

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of roseate was in the 15th century

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Dictionary Entries Near roseate

Cite this Entry

“Roseate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roseate. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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