turgid
Americanadjective
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swollen; distended; tumid.
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inflated, overblown, or pompous; bombastic.
turgid language.
adjective
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swollen and distended; congested
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(of style or language) pompous and high-flown; bombastic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of turgid
1660–70; < Latin turgidus, equivalent to turg ( ēre ) to swell + -idus -id 4
Explanation
Turgid describes something that's swollen, typically by fluids, like a turgid water balloon that's way too big to resist dropping on your friend's head. Turgid comes from the Latin word turgidus, meaning "swollen, inflated." Turgid can be used in a figurative sense to describe things that are overblown. That might remind you of some people's egos! If a famous singer wants to showcase his incredible vocal range and his love of yodeling in a single song, the result may well be turgid, something so swollen with notes and styles that it seems ready to burst.
Vocabulary lists containing turgid
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Great Gatsby
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Poe's Favorite Words, collected by Charles Harrington Elster
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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.
Turgid midtempo rock with a lyric that defines soul rather pitifully as “knowing what someone is feeling.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2025
Turgid as it was, his speech moved the gentlemen of the school board.
From The New Yorker • Feb. 12, 2017
I must salute you: Turgid is the greatest aptronym ever.
From New York Times • Apr. 19, 2016
"Turgid means bombastic or overblown," says Gordon McDougall.
From The Guardian • May 10, 2010
Turgid obscurity is the general character of the composition, with now and then a gleam of genuine poetry, irradiating the dark profound.
From Early Reviews of English Poets by Haney, John Louis
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.
