concrete colors

Literary analysis:

In literature, “concrete” functions on multiple levels, serving both as a marker of tangible, sensory reality and as a counterpoint to abstract ideas. Authors employ the term to evoke vivid materiality—for instance, when describing the harshness of physical structures like a bunker or a step [1], [2]—and to emphasize particulars that ground theoretical or ethical deliberation [3], [4]. It is frequently used to draw sharp contrasts, highlighting how definitive, specific details of human experience or societal conditions carry more weight than general or abstract notions [5], [6]. This layered deployment helps to bridge the gap between lived experience and intellectual discourse [7].

A burst of white light, a blast, carefully aimed from inside a deep concrete bunker.
— from Second Variety by Philip K. Dick
The dinner was baking beautifully on a concrete step.
— from Bliss, and other stories by Katherine Mansfield
Taking thought to keep a personal engagement is obviously of the concrete kind.
— from How We Think by John Dewey
No abstract concept can be a valid substitute for a concrete reality except with reference to a particular interest in the conceiver.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
Reason deals with universals, with general principles, with laws, which lie above the welter of concrete details.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
Happiness is not an abstract idea, but a concrete whole; and these are some of its parts.
— from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
This expedient for an Ethnographer consists in collecting concrete data of evidence, and drawing the general inferences for himself.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Bronislaw Malinowski

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

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