Lust is a physical phenomenon, a biological drive for sex. Feeling torrid is about more than that. Sure, it’s powered by lust, but a torrid passion is felt on many levels at once: Poetic, psychological, heady, anything but intellectual.
The word torrid originally referred to a specific kind of dry heat, but since the Renaissance, it’s taken on a more humid tone, something dripping with sweat.
A torrid ardor consumes the person who feels it. It doesn’t hold back. It’s the opposite of cool. It’s likely to leave a burn.
