What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Lurid vs Dreadful - What's the difference?

lurid | dreadful | Related terms |

Lurid is a related term of dreadful.


As adjectives the difference between lurid and dreadful

is that lurid is shocking, horrifying while dreadful is causing dread; very bad.

As a noun dreadful is

a shocking or sensational crime.

lurid

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Shocking, horrifying.
  • The accident was described with'' ''lurid'' ''detail.
  • Melodramatic.
  • Ghastly, pale, wan in appearance.
  • * Thomson
  • Fierce o'er their beauty blazed the lurid flame.
  • * Tennyson
  • Wrapped in drifts of lurid smoke / On the misty river tide.
  • Being of a light yellow hue.
  • Some paperback novels have lurid covers.
    The lurid lighting of the bar made for a very hazy atmosphere.
  • (botany) Having a brown colour tinged with red, as of flame seen through smoke.
  • (zoology) Having a colour tinged with purple, yellow, and grey.
  • (Webster 1913)

    dreadful

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (archaic) * (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Causing dread; very bad.
  • * 1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) Chapter 23
  • "My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it."
  • *, chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=Marc Higginson, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa , passage=After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break and might have taken at least a point from the match.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "dreadful" is often applied: day, night, state, news, time, secret, storm, mistake, accident, story, dream, havoc, truth, loss, act, life, thought, creature, curse, suffering.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shocking or sensational crime.
  • A shocking or sensational report of a crime.
  • Derived terms

    * penny dreadful

    References

    * (EtymOnLine)