I can understand the confusion between turbid and turgid — and I don’t mean the one-letter difference!
Both words carry negative connotations and can be applied to describe a writer’s literary style or language (yep, speechwriters too). The difference is that turbid is muddy or unclear while turgid means swollen, literally and figuratively.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
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| Turbid | Turgid |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Lexico.com: turbid, turgid | |
Turbid Stream Flowing into Skinningrove From Loftus, July 1993, by John Rostron is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Yep, it looks pretty muddy to me. |
Swollen River in Greenville, South Carolina, 3 October 2015, by Staff Sgt. Roby Di Giovine is courtesy of the South Carolina National Guard and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — The turgid waters were caused by Hurricane Florence. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Adjective |
[Of a liquid] Cloudy, opaque, or thick with suspended matter
Thick or dense, as smoke or clouds Muddled Disturbed Having sediment or foreign particles stirred up or suspended |
Swollen and distended or congested
|
| Examples: | |
| The turbid estuary refused to yield its secrets.
Oh geez, it was a turbid piece of cinéma vérité. We left him at the turbid waters near the waterfall. Turbid urine can be a result of mild dehydration. Although they prefer clear, fresh running water, they seasonally adapt to turbid water caused by runoff and flooding during the rainy season. |
They eyed the turgid and fast-moving river with misgiving.
The river is a brown, turgid worm as broad as a peaty salmon-spawn stream. Last month more than 35,000 salmon died in the Klamath River, smothered by low flows and turgid waters. There were some turgid verses on the death of Prince Albert. The style was turgid, and the characters were poorly outlined and too “original”. The majority of them are written in a boring, turgid style. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: turbidimetric, unturbid Adverb: turbidly, unturbidly Noun: turbidic, turbidimeter, turbidimetry, turbidity, turbidness |
Adverb: turgidly Noun: turgidity |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English (in the figurative sense) from the Latin turbidus, from turba meaning a crowd, a disturbance. | Early 17th century, from the Latin turgidus, from turgere meaning to swell. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions by exploring the index. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, and/or the Properly Punctuated.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The background of Pregnant Mother by Free-Photos was removed and the image flipped horizontally. It is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. I also removed the background for Purple Protein Shake with Red Berries, Athletic Nutrition by Marco Verch, which is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
