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connect today's word to others:
The Latin tumere, meaning "to swell up, or to be excited," gave us words like tumor (a kind of swelling in the body), tumult (a swelling up of noise or excitement), and tumid, the adjective we're checking out today that means "swollen, inflated, puffed-up."
Tumid often describes speech and writing that's swollen with too many words, too many fancy expressions, too much decorative foofaraw and not enough meaning or substance.
Let's gape in horror at some tumid prose. I trust that the author, Sir Walter Scott, won't be offended, being dead since 1832:
Hundreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious green sward; in some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas, in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of silvan solitude.
Y'all, that was one sentence--one tumid sentence in a whole tumid novel that I had to read in eighth grade. Rough.
Okay, so if you agree that Scott's sentence above is tumid, you'll also agree that it's bom_____c and or___nd. (Can you recall those synonyms?) (And you might not agree at all--you might find Scott's sentence elegant. Tumidity is in the eye of the reader.)
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"TUMID"
Something tumid is swollen or puffed-up, often with too many fancy words.
Pronunciation:
TOO mid
Part of speech:
Adjective:
"their tumid prose," "this prose is tumid."
Other forms:
The adverb is "tumidly," and the nouns are "tumidity" and "tumidness."
You can say that something will "tumefy," or that it's "tumefied" or "tumefying."
We've also got the closely related adjective "tumescent," meaning "becoming tumid," along with "tumesce," "tumescing," "tumescently," and "tumescence(s)."
And then there's "intumescent" and its related forms, which means the same thing as "tumescent" but is less common; it often describes literally swelling or expanding things, such as substances that protect pipes and windows and such from catching on fire.
How to use it:
"Tumid" has a negative tone. Tumid things have swelled in an ugly way, and swelling, whether literal or figurative, is a strain, something unnatural, and, you know, icky.
"Tumid" is a rare word, but it sounds so much like "tumor" that I bet your listeners will understand it without any problems.
You might be literal and talk about tumid body parts: tumid lips, gums, limbs, abdomens, scars, etc.
But we'll focus more on figurative use: on tumid speech and writing, tumid poetry and essays, someone's tumid style of speaking or writing, etc.
More specifically, you can point out the tumid features in some speech or piece of writing: the tumid diction, expressions, sentences, stanzas, paragraphs, metaphors, etc.
Is it always language that's figuratively tumid? Nope, just usually. You might talk about someone's tumid pride or pomposity, or maybe about something's tumid flow or expansion.
Finally, you can also say that something is tumid with something else: an abdomen tumid with fluid, a novel tumid with pointless subplots.
examples:
You could easily deflate this tumid hardback book into a blog post or a list of bulleted points.
"The average mall moviegoer might be baffled or sedated by [Oliveira's] films' tumid, dreamlike melancholy."
— Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine, 3 April 2015
study it:
Explain the meaning of "tumid" without saying "bloated" or "distended."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Some particular song, movie, or book) is long, but never tumid, with every (note, line, or scene) relevant."
Example: "East of Eden is long, but never tumid, with every scene relevant."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is "Inspired by, but in no way associated with, Jeopardy!"
In each issue, I'll create three "answers" for you, and you supply the "questions." (That is, you'll respond in the form of a question, like "What is...?" or "Who is...?")
From the previous issue:
1. Category: Hear-Saying.
Answer: It wasn't one of his Fourteen Points: this 28th president once said that "the ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."
Question: Who is Woodrow Wilson?
2. Category: Words in "January."
Answer: It's a fiber for knitting, or a tale told.
Question: What is yarn?
3. Category: Where Did the Soda Go?
Answer: Useful all around the house, sodium bicarbonate is better known as this.
Question: What is baking soda?
Try these today:
1. Category: Words in "January."
Answer: It's a subtle or distinct quality that envelops something.
2. Category: Where Did the Soda Go?
Answer: It's a two-word slangy British term for "absolutely nothing" or "very little."
3. Category: Inconsonant.
Answer: This four-stringed instrument can fit under the seat in front of you on your flight to Honolulu: UUEE.
review today's word:
1. The opposite of TUMID is
A. PITHY.
B. LUMINOUS.
C. WELL-SPOKEN.
2. Her speech was tumid with _____.
A. empty, repetitive praise
B. hilarious anecdotes highlighting her points
C. the audience members, who punctuated it with bursts of applause
Answers are below.
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. A
2. A
The Latin tumere, meaning "to swell up, or to be excited," gave us words like tumor (a kind of swelling in the body), tumult (a swelling up of noise or excitement), and tumid, the adjective we're checking out today that means "swollen, inflated, puffed-up." Hundreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious green sward; in some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas, in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of silvan solitude. Y'all, that was one sentence--one tumid sentence in a whole tumid novel that I had to read in eighth grade. Rough. Something tumid is swollen or puffed-up, often with too many fancy words.
You could easily deflate this tumid hardback book into a blog post or a list of bulleted points.
Explain the meaning of "tumid" without saying "bloated" or "distended."
Fill in the blanks: "(Some particular song, movie, or book) is long, but never tumid, with every (note, line, or scene) relevant."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of TUMID is
|