coal colors - OneLook

Literary analysis:

In literary descriptions, “coal” is frequently used to evoke an inky, impenetrable blackness that suggests mystery and intensity. Authors employ the term in phrases like “coal-black brows” [1] and “a pair of coal black eyes” [2] to create vivid, stark images of darkness in human features, imbuing characters with a brooding allure. Similarly, natural elements are rendered in this deep hue, as in the description of stems being “coal-black” [3], while similes such as “as dark as a coal-hole” [4] further reinforce the idea of an almost tangible, profound darkness. Through such usage, coal becomes a powerful visual metaphor in literature, representing not just a color but a mood and atmosphere steeped in intensity.

It was a lusty young woman, with a comely peasant face somewhat freckled, and a pair of large black eyes surmounted by coal-black brows.
— from White Lies by Charles Reade
A face of oval form, regular features, the nose and chin markedly prominent, a pair of coal black eyes, with a well-defined crescent over each.
— from The Death Shot: A Story Retold by Mayne Reid
He came upon a bit of hawthorn-hedge; the stems were coal-black, the leaves begrimed out of all semblance to natural foliage.
— from White Heather: A Novel (Volume 2 of 3) by William Black
Begorra, it's as dark as a coal-hole and about as dirty!”
— from Felix O'Day by Francis Hopkinson Smith

This tab, the new OneLook "color thesaurus", is a work in progress. It draws from a data set of more than 2000 color names gathered from sources around the Web, and an analysis of how they are referenced in English texts.

Enter any color to explore similar colors, as well as objects and concepts associated with the color in English texts. Examples: lime green, lavender.
Enter any object or concept to see the colors associated with the object or concept in English texts, as well as words that have a similar color profile. Examples: rage, sun, jeans, royalty.

Some words, like "peach", function as both a color name and an object; when you do a search for words like these, you will see both of the above sections.

Color thesaurus

Literary notes

Word games