tumescent

American  

[too-mes-uhnt, tyoo-] / tuˈmɛs ənt, tyu- /

adjective

1. swelling; slightly tumid.

2. exhibiting or affected with many ideas or emotions; teeming.

3. pompous and pretentious, especially in the use of language; bombastic.

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tumescent British  

/ tjuːˈmɛsənt /

adjective

1. swollen or becoming swollen

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Other Word Forms

• tumescence noun

Etymology

Origin of tumescent

1880–85; < Latin tumēscent- (stem of tumēscēns, present participle of tumēscere to begin to swell), equivalent to tum ( ēre ) to swell + -ēscent- -escent

Explanation

Something tumescent is puffy or bloated. An overripe peach could be described as tumescent, swollen and bursting with juice. You'll often find the adjective tumescent describing body parts swelling with sexual excitement, but it can be used for anything that's distended or enlarged. Ripe fruit, puffy hairdos, bloated bellies — all of these are tumescent. Things can be figuratively tumescent too, like an actor's tumescent ego, or overblown, florid, tumescent writing: "I couldn't help giggling when she read her tumescent poetry aloud." The Latin root is tumere, "to swell."

Example Sentences

Rainwater collecting barrels are often tumescent plastic affairs — and considerable eyesores.

From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2021

Dr. Keith J. Ruskin, an anesthesiology professor at Yale University School of Medicine, said doctors using tumescent anesthesia must avoid an overdose, which can lead to seizures and abnormal heartbeats.

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2010

One character develops a small tail, another a second mouth at the base of his neck, and others sprout tumescent growths on the face or webbing between their digits.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, on the other hand, the spirit manifests itself sometimes in exuberance, as when Urquhart and Motteux metagrobolized Rabelais into something almost more tumescent and overwhelming than the original.

From The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and the Second Part, The Confession of the New Married Couple by Marsh, A.

The surface is not level but is composed of irregularly tumescent masses of various sizes, each said to be subject to independent motion, whereby the interior of each rises and flows centrifugally towards the edges.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" by Various