Meaning & use
torrid
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Extremely hot and dry, so that land or air feels scorched.
Grammar: Describes climate or weather: a torrid summer.
Patterns
- a torrid climate
- torrid weather
The torrid summer dried up every stream.
Crops failed in the torrid heat of July.
Travelers crossed the torrid plain at night.
adjectivebefore a noun
Full of strong, often romantic or sexual feeling.
Grammar: Used before a noun, especially affair or romance.
Patterns
- a torrid affair
- a torrid romance
The novel describes a torrid affair between two rivals.
Their torrid romance lasted one summer.
Tabloids were full of stories about the star's torrid love life.
adjectivebefore a nounBritish
Very difficult, intense or stressful, often over a period of time.
Grammar: Chiefly British; used for a hard time or a bad period.
Patterns
- a torrid time
The team had a torrid time against the champions.
The minister faced a torrid week of criticism.
She had a torrid first year in the job.
Word forms
| comparative | torrider |
|---|---|
| superlative | torridest |
Common combinations
- torrid affair
- Their torrid affair ended in scandal.
- torrid heat
- The torrid heat made walking outside unbearable.
- a torrid time
- The goalkeeper had a torrid time in the second half.
- torrid pace
- The company grew at a torrid pace last year.
- torrid climate
- Few plants survive in such a torrid climate.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scorching
- Scorching describes heat strong enough to burn and is mainly about weather, while torrid also has a figurative sense.
- sweltering
- Sweltering is hot and damp and uncomfortable, while torrid suggests dry and burning.
- passionate
- Passionate is warm and positive, but torrid adds a sense of intensity and scandal.
- grueling
- Grueling means exhausting and hard, which fits the difficult-time sense of torrid.
Opposites
Word family
- torridly adverb
- in an intensely hot or passionate way (rare)
- torridity noun
- extreme heat (rare)
- torrent noun
- a violent rush of water
- torrefy verb
- related in origin; to dry or roast with heat
Commonly confused: torrid or horrid?
torrid vs horrid
Horrid means very unpleasant, while torrid means extremely hot or intense, though the two sound alike.
Practice
The two actors had a ___ affair that filled the newspapers for months.
Choose one answer.
Torrid affair is a fixed phrase for an intensely passionate relationship. Tepid, timid and tedious are not used with affair this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “torrid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.