sombre
Britishadjective
-
dismal; melancholy
a sombre mood
-
dim, gloomy, or shadowy
-
(of colour, clothes, etc) sober, dull, or dark
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sombre
C18: from French, from Vulgar Latin subumbrāre (unattested) to shade, from Latin sub beneath + umbra shade
Explanation
When you're sombre — or somber — you're acting glum, depressed, or sad. Being sombre is the opposite of being perky or happy. This is a word that has to do with the mood of a person or event. A funeral is going to be sombre, and the people at the funeral are usually pretty sombre, too. It's a quiet, serious, and even gloomy kind of feeling. Objects can look sombre if they're dull and colorless. Just don't get sombre and confused by the spelling: the "re" ending is a British thing, while Americans usually end it with "er."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sombre and haunting, it builds from a staccato cello line to a spectral, almost transcendental, swell of strings and voices.
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2021
For “V2,” Wareham and Chris Porpora, who performs as Cheval Sombre, teamed to cover 10 great songs.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2018
Sombre statements arrived from all sorts of people who loved him, and it wasn’t just his friends who seemed to feel, somehow, that he loved them, too.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 6, 2016
Sombre hints suggest that this vote may come sooner than expected.
From Economist • Jul. 5, 2012
Sombre and absent-minded, he had earlier slipped away among the trees, avoiding even Brayton.
From A Trooper Galahad by King, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
