calm
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- calme (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English calm, calme, from Middle French calme, probably from Old Italian calma, of uncertain origin. Calma may derive from Late Latin cauma (“heat of the midday sun”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “heat, especially of the sun”), from καίω (kaíō, “I burn”), or possibly from Latin caleō. Compare also Proto-Germanic *kalmaz (“frozenness, cold”).
Displaced native Old English smylte.
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kɑːm/
- (US) IPA(key): /kɑm/, /kɑlm/, /kɔ(ː)m/
- (Ireland, Scotland) IPA(key): /kam/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːm
- (nonstandard, now chiefly dialect) IPA(key): /kaɹm/
AdjectiveEdit
calm (comparative calmer or more calm, superlative calmest or most calm)
- (of a person) Peaceful, quiet, especially free from anger and anxiety.
- (of a place or situation) Free of noise and disturbance.
- Antonym: disturbed
- (of water) with few or no waves on the surface; not rippled.
- Without wind or storm.
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:calm
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
NounEdit
calm (countable and uncountable, plural calms)
- (in a person) The state of being calm; peacefulness; absence of worry, anger, fear or other strong negative emotion.
- (in a place or situation) The state of being calm; absence of noise and disturbance.
- A period of time without wind.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Mark 4:39:
- The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 64, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 324:
- It was a calm ; so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of towing the trophy to the Pequod.
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:calmness
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
calm (third-person singular simple present calms, present participle calming, simple past and past participle calmed)
- (transitive) To make calm.
- to calm a crying baby
- to calm the passions
- 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
- to calm the tempest raised by Aeolus
- (intransitive) To become calm.
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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AnagramsEdit
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
From calma, probably in imitation of French calme (adjective) and Spanish calmo.
AdjectiveEdit
calm (feminine calma, masculine plural calms, feminine plural calmes)
Related termsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
calm
- Alternative form of calme
AdjectiveEdit
calm
- Alternative form of calme
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
calm n (plural calmuri)
- composure (calmness of mind or matter, self-possession)