lurid

English

WOTD – 19 November 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lūridus (“pale yellow, wan”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈl(j)ʊə.ɹɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlʊɹɪd/, /ˈlɔɹɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: (General American) -ɔɹɪd

Adjective

lurid (comparative more lurid, superlative most lurid)

1. Shocking, horrifying, especially when it comes to violence or sex.

   The accident was described with lurid detail.

   • 2021 May 22, Dalya Alberge, “John Steinbeck’s estate urged to let the world read his shunned werewolf novel”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     Speculating on why publishers rejected it, he wonders whether it was deemed too lurid at the time, especially since Steinbeck was then an unknown author.

2. Melodramatic.
3. Ghastly, pale, wan in appearance.
   • 1729, James Thomson, Britannia:

     Fierce o'er their beauty blazed the lurid flame;

   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 86:

     Wrapt in drifts of lurid smoke / On the misty river-tide.

   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Corridors of Peril”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, →OCLC, page 85:

     The great banths sniffed the unfamiliar odours, and then with a rush they broke past us with low growls, swarming across the gardens beneath the lurid light of the nearer moon.

4. Being of a light yellow hue.

   The lurid lighting of the bar made for a very hazy atmosphere.

5. (botany) Having a brown colour tinged with red.
   • 1976, Ethnology:

     a lurid plant with maroon leaves and pink flowers

6. (zoology) Having a colour tinged with purple, yellow, and grey.

Derived terms

• luridity
• luridly
• luridness

 

Translations

shocking, horrifying

• Bulgarian: зловещ (bg) (zlovešt), страшен (bg) (strašen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 骇人听闻 (zh) (hàiréntīngwén), 骇人 (zh) (hàirén)

• Dutch: luguber (nl)
• Finnish: kauhea (fi), kaamea (fi), kammottava (fi), kauhistuttava (fi)
• French: choquant (fr) m, choquante (fr) f
• German: widerlich (de)
• Portuguese: espantoso (pt)
• Russian: стра́шный (ru) (strášnyj), ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Spanish: espantoso (es), chocante (Am.)

melodramatic — see melodramatic

ghastly, pale or wan in appearance

• Bulgarian: смъртнобледен (smǎrtnobleden)
• Finnish: kelmeä (fi)
• French: blafard (fr) m or f, livide (fr), blême (fr)
• Italian: livido (it)
• Portuguese: lúrido (pt)
• Russian: ме́ртвенно-бле́дный (ru) (mértvenno-blédnyj), бле́дный (ru) (blédnyj)
• Spanish: pálido (es), lívido (es)

being of a light yellow hue

• Finnish: kelmeä (fi)
• French: jaunâtre (fr) m or f
• German: grell (de)
• Portuguese: lúrido (pt)
• Russian: желтова́тый (ru) (želtovátyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: (description) ^{(please verify)} reißerisch (de)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “lurid”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)