Word of the Day for Thursday, January 3, 2013

violescent \vahy-uh-LES-uhnt\,
adjective:
Tending to a violet color: a violescent twilight sky.

Scriabin's prelude is dark in color, violescent, like moiré unfurling in the evening wind.
-- Gabriele D'Annunzio, "Notturno"

The portrait was vile, a dirty grey colour with large violescent patches.
-- Emile Zola, "Thérèse Raquin"

Violescent is clearly related to the more common word violet. The suffix -escent means "beginning to show" as in the word luminescent.

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