atrabilious

or at·ra·bil·iar

[a-truh-bil-yuh s]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR atrabilious ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

gloomy; morose; melancholy; morbid.

irritable; bad-tempered; splenetic.

Origin of atrabilious

1645–55; < Latin ātra bīli(s) black bile + -ous

Related formsat·ra·bil·ious·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for atrabilious

gloomy, dispirited, morose, despondent, crestfallen, glum, discouraged, disheartened, drooping, down, black, low, clouded, hurting, sagging, dampened, dashed, dragged, cantankerous, surly

Examples from the Web for atrabilious

Historical Examples of atrabilious

After his conversion he made amends, though he was always the atrabilious faultfinder.
Unicorns
James Huneker
Much dining-out doth breed dyspepsia, and atrabilious views are apt to be a leetle lop-sided.
Punch, or the London Charivari Volume 98, January 4, 1890
Various
I hold them to be a race of pessimists, recruited amongst beggarly philosophers and knavish, atrabilious theologians.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
The melancholy or atrabilious temperament is of a different character.
Curiosities of Medical Experience
J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen
It was his wife, Petronille, still young and passing handsome, but of atrabilious and harsh mien.
The Iron Trevet or Jocelyn the Champion
Eugne Sue

British Dictionary definitions for atrabilious

atrabilious

atrabiliar

adjective

rare irritable

Derived Formsatrabiliousness, noun

Word Origin for atrabilious

C17: from Latin ātra bīlis black bile, from āter black + bīlis bile 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for atrabilious

adj.

1650s, from Latin atra bilis, translating Greek melankholia "black bile" (see melancholy; also cf. bile). Atra is fem. of ater "black, dark, gloomy," perhaps related to root of atrocity. Related: Atrabiliousness.