brooding
Americanadjective
-
preoccupied with depressing, morbid, or painful memories or thoughts.
a brooding frame of mind.
-
cast in subdued light so as to convey a somewhat threatening atmosphere.
Dusk fell on the brooding hills.
Other Word Forms
- broodingly adverb
- nonbrooding adjective
- unbrooding adjective
Etymology
Origin of brooding
First recorded in 1810–20 brooding for def. 1; 1640–50 brooding for def. 2; brood + -ing 2
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.
He was awkward, brooding and uneasy outside his eccentric family.
Robert Duvall was a distinguished and prolific screen actor who lent a brooding intensity and grizzled authority to seven decades of American film-making.
From BBC
“Heathcliff was brooding but she said, ‘What if he wasn’t brooding?’
From Los Angeles Times
On a surface level, I think Brontë created an archetype that has lived on — the brooding, possessive self-made man type.
From Los Angeles Times
Dexter went from sheltered son of a doctor to brooding child hipster who left home early to tour with big bands.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
