gloomy
Americanadjective
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dark or dim; deeply shaded.
gloomy skies.
- Synonyms:
- threatening, lowering, dusky, shadowy, obscure
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causing gloom; dismal or depressing.
a gloomy prospect.
-
filled with or showing gloom; sad, dejected, or melancholy.
- Synonyms:
- dispirited, glum, depressed, despondent, downhearted, downcast
- Antonyms:
- happy
-
hopeless or despairing; pessimistic.
a gloomy view of the future.
adjective
-
dark or dismal
-
causing depression, dejection, or gloom
gloomy news
-
despairing; sad
Synonym Usage
See dark ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
gloominessnoun
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overgloominessnoun
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overgloomyadjective
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ungloomyadjective
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gloomilyadverb
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overgloomilyadverb
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ungloomilyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of gloomy
Explanation
Gloomy means "dark and dreary." A cloudy day, a sad song about lost love, your downbeat mood after your team loses a big game — all of these can be called gloomy. Have you ever been called a Gloomy Gus? If so, you must have been acting depressed or sulky. But you aren't the first to be called that — after all, Gloomy Gus was a comic book character who first appeared in 1904. By the 1940s, this nickname caught on, describing — and possibly adding to the misery — of those who are less happy-seeming than the people around them.
Vocabulary lists containing gloomy
Beowulf vocabulary
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 4
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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.
Outside of the gloomy team, though, there was still cause for Scottish celebration.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
Steve Hill, president and CEO of the visitors authority, points to gloomy consumer sentiment to explain the drop in visitors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
Louis, in comparison, is kinda busted — gloomy, tortured, unable to fully embrace the everlasting banquet Lestat has laid out for him.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026
Wall Street's advances on Thursday came despite several gloomy indicators, with the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge rising in April to its highest since 2023 and first quarter economic growth being revised lower.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
The refectory was a great, low-ceiled, gloomy room; on two long tables smoked basins of something hot, which, however, to my dismay, sent forth an odour far from inviting.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
