Word of the Day Archive
Friday January 15, 2010
pallid \PAL-id\
, adjective:
1. Having an abnormally pale or wan complexion.
2. Lacking intensity of color or luminousness.
3. Lacking in vitality or interest.
The beam was dim by the time it reached the far wall, but the light was enough to illuminate the shape of a pallid and ghostly face, staring back at them through lifeless sockets.
-- Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol
She is a tall, languid young lady with a pallid, oval face and beautiful pale-blue-gray eyes; her hands are extraordinary--long-fingered, flexible, nervously elegant.
-- Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
Between them the ground was bare and the naked chalk showed a pallid, dirty white under the cream-colored elder bloom.
-- Richard Adams, Watership Down: A Novel
Pallid is from Latin pallidus "pale," from root of pallere "be pale".
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pallid