SKIP TO CONTENT

The Suffix -id: The Suffix -id, Part 3

The four lists in this splendid collection are arranged from easiest to most challenging. Don’t be timid, be intrepid and learn them all!

Here are links to our lists for this collection: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
12 words 458 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Full list of words from this list:

  1. avid
    marked by active interest and enthusiasm
    A lifelong avid arts enthusiast and a person who is deaf, Ralston often found herself unable to fully participate in the arts she loved. Seattle Times (Oct 19, 2020)
    If you're super into something — like animé, photography, or wombats — such that you spend a lot of your free time enjoying or learning about it, that's avid.
  2. frigid
    extremely cold
    The white, fur-lined cloak did little to keep the frigid air from freezing all of her. Throne of Glass
  3. squalid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
    Marshall Square was squalid, dark, and dingy, but we were all together and so impassioned and spirited that I barely noticed my surroundings. Long Walk to Freedom
    Squalid is often used to describe a room or living situation that's filthy and disgusting.
  4. florid
    elaborately or excessively ornamented
    Among socialists, he attracted negative attention for discursive essays he wrote in florid, wandering prose. Washington Post (Feb 13, 2019)
    Florid comes from the same root as flower, so if something is highly decorated — whether tastefully or tastelessly — florid a good choice to describe it.
  5. insipid
    lacking taste or flavor or tang
    Their successors adapted the formula by adding salt, garlic and herbs to the tomatoes, probably to compensate for the insipid tomatoes they found here. New York Times (Feb 19, 2019)
    Bland, boring, and vapid are all synonyms for insipid.
  6. limpid
    transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity
    In the nearby town of Santiago de Acayutlán, children play in a crystalline spring – splashing and diving into the limpid waters, while their parents look on approvingly. The Guardian (Nov 12, 2015)
  7. fervid
    characterized by intense emotion
    The commercial meteorite trade caters mostly to a small but fervid group of hobbyist collectors who will pay extraordinary prices to get a piece of the latest finds. The Verge (Jun 25, 2018)
    If you're fervid, you have a fever. If you're so passionate about something, whether positively or negatively, that you seem slightly delirious, that's also fervid.
  8. acrid
    strong and sharp, as a taste or smell
    There was still a smell of gasoline in the church, such an acrid smell that it made Meggie cough. Inkheart
  9. turbid
    clouded as with sediment
    The stream turned turbid, Huang said, “the color of soy sauce.” Washington Post (Dec 29, 2019)
    Turbid comes from the same root as turbulent; churned up water is muddy and opaque.
  10. tepid
    feeling or showing little interest or enthusiasm
    Outside of her most thrilling songs, she seemed so tepid, so far away. Washington Post (Jun 23, 2016)
    Tepid is a good synonym for lukewarm.
  11. torpid
    in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation
    Even when researchers roused the torpid squirrels, they wouldn’t drink a drop—until the team artificially increased the concentration of their blood serum. Science Magazine (Oct 1, 2019)
    Torpidus means "numb" in Latin. Torpid is pretty close in meaning to dormant, which is French for sleeping.
  12. torrid
    characterized by intense emotion
    The Italian agriculture lobby Coldiretti said Thursday that 20% of the tomato crop in Italy’s south was lost due to torrid heat and humidity. Seattle Times (Aug 12, 2021)
    In Latin, torrere means "to dry with heat," so torrid means "intensely hot," either literally or figuratively.
Created on Tue Oct 13 13:15:29 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Apr 21 09:33:23 EDT 2022)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.