gloom
Americannoun
-
total or partial darkness; dimness.
- Antonyms:
- brightness
-
a state of melancholy or depression; low spirits.
- Synonyms:
- sadness, despondency, dejection
- Antonyms:
- cheerful
-
a despondent or depressed look or expression.
verb (used without object)
-
to appear or become dark, dim, or somber.
-
to look sad, dismal, or dejected; frown.
verb (used with object)
-
to fill with gloom; make gloomy or sad; sadden.
-
to make dark or somber.
noun
-
partial or total darkness
-
a state of depression or melancholy
-
an appearance or expression of despondency or melancholy
-
poetic a dim or dark place
verb
-
(intr) to look sullen or depressed
-
to make or become dark or gloomy
Other Word Forms
- gloomful adjective
- gloomfully adverb
- gloomless adjective
- outgloom verb (used with object)
- undergloom noun
- ungloom verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of gloom
1300–50; Middle English gloumben, glomen to frown, perhaps representing Old English *glūmian (akin to early German gläumen to make turbid); glum
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.
But these remarkable findings offer hope nonetheless in a field that until recently was plunged almost entirely into gloom.
From MarketWatch
"There is a bittersweet feeling, and it is a bit after the Lord Mayor's Show. But you only have to rewind 36 hours when it was doom and gloom."
From Barron's
But even that is being tested by the gloom, with meteorologist Viktor Bergman "very pessimistic" about snow for a white Christmas and New Year to cheer everyone up.
From Barron's
Generations hence will wonder why Western elites, rather than marveling at how life was getting better, looked at the future and saw only doom and gloom.
But for now he says: "There's doom and gloom in the cereals sector. And costs have been getting out of control on the machinery side of things."
From BBC
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.
