lurid

English

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)

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• 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:

     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

Translations