Word of the Day

: February 15, 2025

livid

adjective LIV-id

What It Means

Livid means "very angry, enraged, or furious." It may also describe things having a dark purplish or reddish color.

// The teen's parents were livid when they discovered she had lied about her whereabouts.

// He had a livid bruise on his right arm.

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livid in Context

"Activists and vulnerable nations were understandably livid at the failure to garner stronger commitments on the reduction of fossil fuel use, noting that ... fossil fuels are barely referenced despite being the primary driver of global emissions." — David Carlin, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024

Did You Know?

Livid has a colorful history. The Latin adjective livēre, "to be blue," gave rise to Latin lividus, meaning "discolored by bruising." French adopted the word along with its meaning as livide, which English borrowed in the 15th century as livid. For a few centuries the English word described bruised flesh as well as a shade of dark gray and other colors having a dark grayish tone. By the 18th century people were livid, first by being pale with extreme emotion ("a pale, lean, livid face" —Henry James), and then by being reddish with the same ("His face glared with a livid red." —James Francis Barrett). By the late 19th century a livid person could also be furiously angry, which is the word's typical application today.