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.
She lets the camera drink in the differences between their big-city home environs and the placidity of their woody, lakeside getaway.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2022
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
With all the dire warnings, the general seemed to be losing patience with his countrymen’s trademark placidity.
From Washington Times • Nov. 5, 2020
The cows gazed at him with a sort of threatening idiotic placidity; the horses peered down their long snouts like curious, intelligent gods.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
