morbid

[mawr-bid]

adjective

1. suggesting an unhealthy mental state or attitude; unwholesomely gloomy, sensitive, extreme, etc..

   a morbid interest in death.

   Antonyms: cheerful

2. affected by, caused by, causing, or characteristic of disease.

   Synonyms: sickly, sick, unhealthy, unhealthy, diseased, unwholesome
   Antonyms: healthy

3. pertaining to diseased parts.

   morbid anatomy.

4. gruesome; grisly.

morbid

/ ˈmɔːbɪd /

adjective

1. having an unusual interest in death or unpleasant events

2. gruesome

3. relating to or characterized by disease; pathologic

   a morbid growth

Other Word Forms

• morbidly adverb
• morbidness noun
• premorbid adjective
• premorbidly adverb
• premorbidness noun
• unmorbid adjective
• unmorbidly adverb
• unmorbidness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of morbid¹

First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin morbidus “sickly,” from morb(us) “disease, sickness” + -idus -id ⁴

Word History and Origins

Origin of morbid¹

C17: from Latin morbidus sickly, from morbus illness

Example Sentences

“Let’s stop all this morbid talk,” the woman implored her aunt, but later she realized how helpful that method would be.

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“I guess I felt like the mortuary school thing was morbid,” he says from the Chicago home they’ve shared since 2020.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“I have a job to do. Make money for my clients. Period. But boy it gets morbid when you start making investments that work out extra great if a tragedy occurs.”

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One of Paris's top tourist attractions -- and certainly its most morbid -- closes to visitors from Monday for six months of renovations.

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Though born in London, Shelley lived in Scotland before writing her novel and later credited the country’s bleak landscapes with giving “airy flights” to her morbid imagination.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• ghastly 
• ghoulish 
• grim 
• gruesome 
• macabre 
• melancholy 
• pessimistic 
• unnatural