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Webster 1913 Edition


Placid

Plac′id

,
Adj.
[L.
placidus
, originally, pleasing, mild, from
placere
to please: cf. F.
placide
. See
Please
.]
Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle.
“That placid aspect and meek regard.”
Milton.
“Sleeping . . . the placid sleep of infancy.”
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Placid

PLAC'ID

,
Adj.
[L. placidus, from placo, to appease.]
1.
Gentle; quiet; undisturbed; equable; as a placid motion of the spirits.
2.
Serene; mild; unruffled; indicating peace of mind; as a placid countenance or smile.
3.
Calm; tranquil; serene; not stormy; as a placid sky.
4.
Calm; quiet; unruffled; as a placid stream.

Definition 2024


placid

placid

See also: plàcid

English

Adjective

placid (comparative placider, superlative placidest)

  1. calm and quiet; peaceful; tranquil
    a placid disposition
    a placid lake
    • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 9, in Jane Eyre, HTML edition:
      April advanced to May: a bright serene May it was; days of blue sky, placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its duration.
    • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
      [I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.

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