placidity
Americannoun
-
a calm or peaceful quality; tranquility; serenity.
It’s not uncommon for visitors to regard the placidity of Canada’s Peyto Lake as a spiritual experience.
-
lack of interest or proper concern, energy, or action; complacency or apathy.
In a society that mistakes placidity for gentleness, I think we need spaces to explore, develop, and harness righteous anger.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of placidity
First recorded in 1610–20; placid ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing placidity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But, as in “Men,” Kinnear’s appearance of placidity makes his characters’ nefarious tendencies even more chilling; his ability to draw his mouth into a grim implacable line is second to none.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
I had been struck by the placidity of Courtney’s life in the public eye.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
What might have been striking about Saturday was its placidity, especially in a month not famed for meteorological serenity.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 4, 2021
People got married, divorced, babies were born and people died, and there was this placidity.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2021
But the placidity of his face belied an unusually active mind.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
