true blue

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

true blue

/ˌtɹuː ˈbluː/ UK
/ˌtɹu ˈblu/ Canada, US
/ˌtɹʉː ˈblʉː/ Australia, New Zealand
/ˌtɹʉː ˈblʉː/ Scotland
/ˌʈɾuː ˈbluː/ India

Where it comes from

Endocentric compound of true (“loyal, faithful”, adjective) + blue (“steadfastly faithful or loyal”, adjective). The symbolism of the colour blue as representing constancy, faithfulness, loyalty, and truth may derive from the constant colour of the sky, or the tendency of certain blue dyes to resist fading, especially those made in Coventry.

Adjective senses 1.1.2 (“of or pertaining to the Tory, and now the Conservative, political party”) and 1.1.3 (“of or pertaining to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig political party in the 17th century”) probably both allude to sense 1 (“steadfastly faithful or loyal”). Sense 1.1.2 may also allude to sense 1.1.3 which is older, and sense 1.1.3 may partly allude to the blue colour of the flag of Scotland.

adjective true-blue

not comparable Steadfastly faithful or loyal; unwavering in loyalty; staunch, true. He was a true blue supporter, and would not listen to what he supposed to be the lies of the opposition.
not comparable Patriotic.
UK, not comparable Of or pertaining to the (historical) Tory, and now the Conservative, political party; hence, steadfastly conservative. […] Mr. Wenham himself was a staunch old True Blue Tory, and his father a small coal-merchant in the north of England […]
Scotland, historical, not comparable Of or pertaining to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig political party in the 17th century; hence, steadfastly Presbyterian. For his Religion it was fit / To match his Learning and his Wit: / 'Twas Presbyterian true blew, / For he was of that stubbon Crew / Of Errant Saints, whom all men grant / To be the true Church Militant: […]
not comparable Representing the true essence of something; authentic, genuine, honest. Some upscale, service-oriented dealers say competitors are installing the third-party disk drives in PC XTs and passing them off as true blue PC XTs.
Similar: archetypal, quintessential
Australia, informal, not comparable, specifically Representing authentic Australian culture, values, etc.
Similar: archetypal, quintessential, dinkum, dinky-di
UK, not comparable Aristocratic by birth.
not comparable Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see true, blue. Second, some living caerulea are blue: A few display attractive shades of blue green or, more rarely, true blue.

noun true blues · true-blue

countable A faithful partisan or supporter of a cause, person, political party, etc. A mild Liberalism prevailed, a Liberalism that would be regarded as hide-bound Toryism now, but was daring enough in those days. One man who had been to work in Northampton proclaimed himself a Radical; but he was cancelled out by the landlord, who called himself a ‘true blue’.
historical, uncountable A blue dye from Coventry, England, famous for not washing out.
countable, uncountable A precisely defined pure blue, as for example web color #0000FF = RGB(0,0,255).

Translations

Every language

adj steadfastly faithful or loyal

हिन्दी	सरफ़रोश sarafroś
Français	très loyal
Italiano	convinto, fervente, indefesso

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"true blue." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/true%20blue. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

true blue. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/true%20blue

Chicago

"true blue." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/true%20blue.

BibTeX

@misc{true_blue_2026,
  title = {true blue},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/true%20blue},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}