gloomy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡluːmi/
ipa: /ˈɡlumi/
rhymes: -uːmi
Forms: form: gloomier
form: gloomiest
Etymology: From gloom + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (“dark, gloomy”).
Senses: examples: text: The cavern was gloomy.
synonyms: word: dusky
word: dim
word: clouded
word: blear
word: caliginous
word: cimmerian
word: crepuscular
word: dark
word: darksome
word: darkling
word: dim
word: dimpsy
word: dingy
word: dull
word: dusky
word: fuliginous
word: gloomy
word: leaden
word: lightless
word: mirksome
word: murky
word: murksome
word: obscure
word: shady
word: somber
word: sombrous
word: stygian
word: sunless
word: swarthy
word: tenebrous
word: twilightish
word: umbrageous
word: unilluminated
glosses: Not very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening.
examples: text: a gloomy temper or countenance
text: The report was slightly gloomier than in June, when unemployment rates eased in more than half of all U.S. states for a third straight month and only five states reported jobless rate increases.
ref: 2010 August 20, Blake Ellis, “Unemployment rates rise in 14 states”, in CNN Money:
text: “The outlook is less gloomy than in our October forecast, and could represent a turning point, with growth bottoming out and inflation declining,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s director of research, wrote in a blog post.
ref: 2023 January 30, Julia Horowitz, “Global economic outlook slightly ‘less gloomy,’ Europe ekes out growth”, in CNN:
text: The opposite of an escapist blockbuster, the eighth and apparently final outing for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the doomiest and gloomiest yet in the action-adventure franchise.
ref: 2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of the summer”, in BBC:
synonyms: word: bleak
word: depressed
word: dreary
word: miserable
word: cheerless
word: comfortless
word: bleak
word: dark
word: depressing
word: desolate
word: dire
word: disconsolate
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: drear
word: drearisome
word: dreary
word: dreich
word: forlorn
word: gayless
word: gray
word: gloomsome
word: gloomy
word: grim
word: joyless
word: lack-laughter
word: lugubrious
word: melancholy
word: mirthless
word: miserable
word: no joke
word: saturnine
word: solemn
word: somber
word: sombre
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: sunless
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unhappy
word: unmerry
word: wintry
word: woeful
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: blitheless
word: dispirited
word: blue
word: bummed out
word: chapfallen
word: cheerless
word: chopfallen
word: crestfallen
word: cut up
word: damp
word: dejected
word: depressed
word: despondent
word: disgruntled
word: disconsolate
word: disheartened
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: down
word: down in the dumps
word: down in the mouth
word: downcast
word: downhearted
word: downsome
word: dull
word: elegiac
word: elegious
word: forlorn
word: gloomy
word: glum
word: grief-stricken
word: grieving
word: heavy-hearted
word: heartsore
word: heartsick
word: inconsolable
word: infelicitous
word: jawfallen
word: joyless
word: lachrymose
word: lamentful
word: low
word: low-spirited
word: lugubrious
word: lumpish
word: melancholic
word: melancholy
word: miserable
word: moody
word: mopey
word: morose
word: mournful
word: passionate
word: plaintive
word: querulous
word: sad
word: saddened
word: saturnine
word: shattered
word: solemn
word: sombre
word: sorrowful
word: sorrow-ridden
word: sorrowsome
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: threnetic
word: threnetical
word: triste
word: tristful
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unconsolable
word: unhappy
word: unlively
word: wistful
word: woe
word: woebegone
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Suffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.
Derived terms: word: doomy and gloomy
word: gloomily
word: gloominess
word: gloomy goose
word: gloomy Gus
word: gloomyish
word: gloomy octopus
word: look on the gloomy side
word: overgloomy
sense: the
word: gloomies
word: ungloomy