luridness
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lu·rid
(lo͝or′ĭd)adj.
1.
a. Characterized by vivid description or explicit details that are meant to provoke or shock: a lurid account of the crime.
b. Characterized by shocking or outrageous behavior: a friend with a lurid past.
2.
a. Bright and intense in color; vivid: "the whole loud overbright town like the lurid midway of a carnival" (Paul Theroux).
b. Sallow or pallid: "She dropped back into the chair ... A lurid pallor stole over her face" (Wilkie Collins).
[Latin lūridus, pale, from lūror, paleness.]
lu′rid·ly adv.
lu′rid·ness n.
Word History: It may seem surprising that English lurid, which sometimes means "vivid," comes from Latin lūridus, "pale, sallow, sickly yellow," used to describe the color of things like skin or teeth. Latin lūridus could also describe horrifying or ghastly things like poisonous herbs or even death itself—things that make a person turn pale. In an account of the volcanic eruption that buried the city of Pompeii, the Roman writer Pliny the Younger used lūridus to describe the unsettling color of the sun shining through a cloud of ash. When lurid first appeared in English in the mid-1600s, it described things that are pale in a sickly or disturbing way. Lurid was also used of gray, overcast skies. In the 1700s, writers began to use lurid to describe the red glow of fire blazing dimly within smoke. In the 1800s, the word acquired an additional meaning, the one it most commonly has today when we reveal the lurid details of a horrifying or sensationalistic story.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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Noun | 1. | luridness - the journalistic use of subject matter that appeals to vulgar tastes; "the tabloids relied on sensationalism to maintain their circulation" journalese - the style in which newspapers are written |
2. | luridness - unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress) | |
3. | luridness - the quality of being ghastly frightfulness - the quality of being frightful |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
تَوَهُّج الألوان، فَظاعَه
odpudivost
uhygge
színdús jelleg
e-î hræîilegt
odpudivosť
dehşete düşürme
luridness
n
(of colour, sky, dress) → Grellheit f; (of posters) → schreiende Art
(of account) → reißerische or sensationslüsterne Aufmachung; (of details) → grausige Darstellung; the luridness of his language → seine reißerische Sprache; the luridness of this tale → diese blutrünstige or grausige Geschichte
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
lurid
(ˈluərid) adjective1. (too) brightly coloured or vivid. a lurid dress/painting/sky.
2. unpleasantly shocking. the lurid details of his accident.
ˈluridly adverbˈluridness noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.