brooding

[ broo-ding ]

/ ˈbru dɪŋ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR brooding ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

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.

Nearby words

brood bud, brood parasite, brood parasitism, brood pouch, brooder, brooding, broodmare, broody, brook, brook farm, brook park

Origin of brooding

1810–20 for def 1; 1640–50 for def 2; brood + -ing²

Related forms

brood·ing·ly, adverbnon·brood·ing, adjective, nounun·brood·ing, adjective

Definition for brooding (2 of 2)

brood

[ brood ]

/ brud /

noun

a number of young produced or hatched at one time; a family of offspring or young.

a breed, species, group, or kind: The museum exhibited a brood of monumental sculptures.

verb (used with object)

to sit upon (eggs) to hatch, as a bird; incubate.

(of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body.

to think or worry persistently or moodily about; ponder: He brooded the problem.

verb (used without object)

to sit upon eggs to be hatched, as a bird.

to dwell on a subject or to meditate with morbid persistence (usually followed by over or on).

adjective

kept for breeding: a brood hen.

Verb Phrases

brood above/over, to cover, loom, or seem to fill the atmosphere or scene: The haunted house on the hill brooded above the village.

Origin of brood

before 1000; Middle English; Old English brōd; cognate with Dutch broed, German Brut. See breed

SYNONYMS FOR brood

2 line, stock, strain.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR brood ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

brood·less, adjectiveun·brood·ed, adjective

Can be confused

brewed brood

Synonym study

1. Brood, litter refer to young creatures. Brood is especially applied to the young of fowls and birds hatched from eggs at one time and raised under their mother's care: a brood of young turkeys. Litter is applied to a group of young animals brought forth at a birth: a litter of kittens or pups.

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

Examples from the Web for brooding

Carell is good in a brooding, atmospheric movie but Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo are better.
Channing Tatum Is the Real Star of ‘Foxcatcher'|Nico Hines|October 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the Jockey ad, half of Jim Palmer's princely, brooding face is fully lighted, the other half is masked in shadow.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up|Tom Boswell|September 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I had left a party early, brooding about why I felt so strongly about something that, ostensibly, had “nothing to do with me.”
Men Without a Country: Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, My Father and Me|Arthur Chu|August 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hollywood is gripped by an obsession so all-consuming that no blockbuster is safe from its brooding influence.
The Ghastly ‘Maleficent’ and Why It’s Time For Hollywood to Kill the Dark Reboot|Andrew Romano|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Nine times out of ten, it will conjure up an image of a brooding, sweaty, long-haired hunk.
Taylor Kitsch on ‘The Normal Heart,’ Homophobic Right-Wingers, and Gays in the Military|Marlow Stern|May 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
All at once a man rose from somewhere and stood, a dark splotch, against the brooding heat of the sky.
My Country|Marie, Queen of Rumania
Once more she dropped her chin upon her hand and fell to brooding, her eyes upon the river.
Audrey|Mary Johnston
She lay in bed for several days, scarcely touching food, brooding upon her disgrace until she was really ill.
The Cricket|Marjorie Cooke
It had made her eager and parted-lipped, and passionate for all the brooding joys of existence.
The Blood Red Dawn|Charles Caldwell Dobie
Anything more drear and depressing than the brooding gloom of the haunted wood could hardly be imagined.
Haviland's Chum|Bertram Mitford

British Dictionary definitions for brooding

brood

/ (bruːd) /

noun

a number of young animals, esp birds, produced at one hatching

all the offspring in one family: often used jokingly or contemptuously

a group of a particular kind; breed

(as modifier) kept for breedinga brood mare

verb

(of a bird)

to sit on or hatch (eggs)
(tr) to cover (young birds) protectively with the wings

(when intr , often foll by on, over or upon) to ponder morbidly or persistently

Derived Forms

brooding, noun, adjectivebroodingly, adverb

Word Origin for brood

Old English brōd; related to Middle High German bruot, Dutch broed; see breed

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

brooding

adjective

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of brooding

Related forms

Definition for brooding (2 of 2)

brood

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

adjective

Verb Phrases

Origin of brood

SYNONYMS FOR brood

Related forms

Can be confused

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for brooding

British Dictionary definitions for brooding

brood

noun

verb

Derived Forms

Word Origin for brood

Medicine definitions for brooding

brood

n.