Basic Details
Word: Tranquil
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Calm, quiet and peaceful, with no noise, worry or disturbance.
Synonyms: calm, peaceful, serene, still
Antonyms: noisy, stormy, restless
Word origin: From Latin tranquillus, calm.
How to Spell Tranquil
Syllables: tran - quil
Tricky part: The kw sound is spelt qu, as it almost always is in English. The adjective has one l, but in British English the noun tranquillity and the verb tranquillise double it.
Watch out for: trankwil, tranqil, tranquill
Memory tip: A tranquil night is spent under a QUILt: tran + quil. Stop before the t of quilt and you have one l.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Early in the morning, the lake at Nainital lay tranquil under a thin mist.
Example 2: Grandma's garden is the most tranquil spot in our noisy colony.
Example 3: After the storm passed, the sea became tranquil again.
Fun Fact
The first crewed landing on the Moon in 1969 came down in a flat plain called the Sea of Tranquillity, though it holds no water at all.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
tran__il
a) c, u
b) q, w
c) k, w
d) q, u
Show answer
d) q, u. The kw sound in an English word is almost always spelt qu, as in quiet and quick.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word tranquil as used in the sentence:
The houseboat drifted slowly across the tranquil backwaters of Alappuzha.
a) noisy
b) crowded
c) calm
d) restless
Show answer
c) calm. Slow drifting and still water describe a calm scene; restless and noisy point the other way.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The ashram stood in a lqriantu valley far from the honking of the city.
a) quarter
b) tranquil
c) antique
d) quintal
Show answer
b) tranquil. Quintal has every letter except the r, so it is one short; quarter and antique need an e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which place would most people call tranquil?
a) a quiet garden at dawn
b) a stadium during a final
c) a busy railway platform
d) a crowded market at noon
Show answer
a) a quiet garden at dawn
2. The opposite of a tranquil sea is a ____ sea.
a) calm
b) quiet
c) still
d) stormy
Show answer
d) stormy
