Placid Meaning
/ˈplæsɪd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjcalm and quiet; peaceful; tranquil
nameAn unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, USA, originally named for its tranquility.
Sentence Examples
Now that he's retired, Yves can look forward to a contented and placid life.
The placid water flowed under the bridge.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The lake was so ____ that it reflected the mountains like a mirror.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The lake was completely ____ in the early morning, its surface reflecting the surrounding mountains.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Latin placeō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin placiduslbor. French placide English placid Borrowed from French placide, from Latin placidus (“peaceful, calm, placid”), from placeō (“please, satisfy”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"April advanced to May: a bright serene May it was; days of blue sky, placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its duration."
— 1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 9, in Jane Eyre, HTML edition:
"The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?"
— 1941, Ogden Nash, “The Ant”, in The Face is Familiar, Garden City Publishing Company, page 224:
"[I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality."
— 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The lake was so ____ that it reflected the mountains like a mirror.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The lake was completely ____ in the early morning, its surface reflecting the surrounding mountains.