Vivid
adjectiveProducing strong, clear, and intensely bright impressions, whether of colour, detail, or memory.
How to spell vivid
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce vivid
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does vivid mean?
- adjectiveProducing strong, clear, and intensely bright impressions, whether of colour, detail, or memory.
Vivid in a sentence
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The sunset painted the sky in vivid shades of orange and pink.
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She gave a vivid description of the accident to the investigators.
Where does vivid come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word comes from the Latin vividus, meaning 'full of life' or 'animated', which was built on the verb vivere, 'to live'. The same vivere root gives us a whole family of lively English words, including 'revive', 'survive', 'vital', and 'vivacious'. English adopted vivid in the early 1600s, at first describing things that seemed alive and energetic, before the meaning shifted toward brightness of colour and the clarity of mental images. The leap from 'living' to 'brightly coloured' makes sense once you picture how vibrant and intense a living thing looks against something dull or dead. The single v's and the tidy -id ending make it easier to spell than many of its longer Latin cousins.
How the word is built
- viv- (from vivere: to live)
- -id (adjective suffix meaning 'tending to')
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