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What is the Difference Between placid, calm, tranquil, and serene?
Like placid, the words calm, tranquil, and serene all mean "quiet and free from disturbance." Calm conveys a quiet composure that contrasts with surrounding chaos, while tranquil suggests a very deep quietude and peace. Serene is loftier still, carrying a sense of utter peace and happiness. Though placid traces back to Latin placēre, meaning "to please," it isn't always as positive a term as its synonyms. It can imply a lack of agitation rather than a true peace, and it sometimes suggests excessive self-satisfaction or even stupidity.
Examples of placid in a Sentence
Rick Barot, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
While some are more placid and don't mind being treated, there are others who can get very stressed by their unknown environment, including Percy the cat.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
Skeletal branches created a cathedral over the lonely vehicle where the 64-year-old man had breathed his last, the winter-gray river placid in the background behind a ramble of fences.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2025
The fish spread downstream, populating the fast-water reaches and leaving the more placid stretches to catfish and carp, and in some places to largemouths which have been stocked from time to time but never too successfully.
—Arthur Grahame, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for placid
Cite this Entry
“Placid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placid. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
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placid
adjective
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