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lurid - 4 dictionary results

lu⋅rid

  [loor-id]
Use lurid in a Sentence
–adjective
1. gruesome; horrible; revolting: the lurid details of an accident.
2. glaringly vivid or sensational; shocking: the lurid tales of pulp magazines.
3. terrible in intensity, fierce passion, or unrestraint: lurid crimes.
4. lighted or shining with an unnatural, fiery glow; wildly or garishly red: a lurid sunset.
5. wan, pallid, or ghastly in hue; livid.
Origin:
1650–60; < L lūridus sallow, ghastly

Related forms:
lu⋅rid⋅ly, adverb
lu⋅rid⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
5. dismal, pale, murky.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To lurid
lu·rid   (lŏŏr'ĭd)   
adj.  
  1. Causing shock or horror; gruesome.
  2. Marked by sensationalism: a lurid account of the crime. See Synonyms at ghastly.
  3. Glowing or shining with the glare of fire through a haze: lurid flames.
  4. Sallow or pallid in color.

[Latin lūridus, pale, from lūror, paleness.]
lu'rid·ly adv., lu'rid·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lurid

Lu"rid\, a. [L. luridus.]

1. Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal.

Fierce o'er their beauty blazed the lurid flame. --Thomson.

Wrapped in drifts of lurid smoke On the misty river tide. --Tennyson.

2. (Bot.) Having a brown color tonged with red, as of flame seen through smoke.

3. (Zo["o]l.) Of a color tinged with purple, yellow, and gray.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : lurid
Spanish: vistoso, llamativo, chillón,
German: grell,
Japanese: けばけばしい
More Translations »

lurid 
1656, from L. luridus "pale yellow, ghastly," of uncertain origin, perhaps cognate with Gk. khloros (see Chloe). The figurative sense of "sensational" is first attested 1850.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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