polychromatic

English

Etymology

poly- +‎ chromatic

Adjective

polychromatic (comparative more polychromatic, superlative most polychromatic)

1. Showing a variety, or a change, of colours; having many colours; multicoloured.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 76):

     With our water goggles adjusted we gazed at the fishes displaying their polychromatic scales to the sea world, as, with true Puka-Pukan languor, they finned from coral to coral.

   • O. Henry, Strictly Business

     As I rounded the corner nearest my hotel the Afrite coachman of the polychromatic, nonpareil coat seized me, swung open the dungeony door of his peripatetic sarcophagus, flirted his feather duster and began his ritual: […]

2. (physics, of electromagnetic radiation) Composed of more than one wavelength.

Synonyms

• (having many colours): motley, multicolored, polyhued; see also Thesaurus:multicolored

Antonyms

• monochromatic

Derived terms

• polychromatic acid

Translations

showing a variety of colours

• Catalan: policrom, policromàtic
• Manx: yl-daahagh
• Romanian: policromatic
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: policromo (es), polícromo
• Tagalog: damkulayin

References

• “polychromatic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.