lurid

Adjective
Synonyms: shocking

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (4)

  1. horrible in fierceness or savagery“lurid crimes”“a lurid life”
  2. glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism“lurid details of the accident”Synonyms: shocking
  3. shining with an unnatural red glow as of fire seen through smoke“a lurid sunset”“lurid flames”
  4. ghastly pale“moonlight gave the statue a lurid luminence”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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

1.Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [1913 Webster]

Fierce o'er their beauty blazed the lurid flame.— Thomson.[1913 Webster]
Wrapped in drifts of lurid smoke On the misty river tide.— Tennyson.[1913 Webster]

2.(Bot.) Having a brown color tinged with red, as of flame seen through smoke. [1913 Webster]

3.(Zool.) Of a color tinged with purple, yellow, and gray. [1913 Webster]

4.Vivid, sensational, or shocking; graphic or melodramatic; as, the lurid details of a murder. [PJC]

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