glum
Americanadjective
adjective
Related Words
Glum, morose, sullen, dour, surly all are adjectives describing a gloomy, unsociable attitude. Glum describes a depressed, spiritless condition or manner, usually temporary rather than habitual: a glum shrug of the shoulders; a glum, hopeless look in his eye. Morose, which adds to glum a sense of bitterness, implies a habitual and pervasive gloominess: a sour, morose manner; morose withdrawal from human contact. Sullen usually implies reluctance or refusal to speak accompanied by glowering looks expressing anger or a sense of injury: a sullen manner, silence, look. Dour refers to a stern and forbidding aspect, stony and unresponsive: dour rejection of friendly overtures. Surly implies gruffness of speech and manner, usually accompanied by an air of injury and ill temper: a surly reply.
Other Word Forms
- glumly adverb
- glumness noun
Etymology
Origin of glum
1425–75; late Middle English; variant of gloom
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.
And when I toured the Los Alamos lab right after the collapse of the other great superpower of that moment, the Soviet Union, it was curious how glum the people I met there were.
From Salon
The first captivates via a young man’s earnest effusiveness; the second’s effusiveness, tainted by lovelorn glum, deepens.
From Los Angeles Times
As for the bad news: their education was now in the hands of the glum Russian tutor, Master Gogolev, who had formerly worked for the Babushkinovs.
From Literature
As you can see, it was Penelope’s nature to try to cheer herself up when feeling glum.
From Literature
Meanwhile, consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan were glum.
From Barron's
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.
