morbid
Americanadjective
-
suggesting an unhealthy mental state or attitude; unwholesomely gloomy, sensitive, extreme, etc..
a morbid interest in death.
- Antonyms:
- cheerful
-
affected by, caused by, causing, or characteristic of disease.
- Synonyms:
- sickly, sick, unhealthy, diseased, unwholesome
- Antonyms:
- healthy
-
pertaining to diseased parts.
morbid anatomy.
-
gruesome; grisly.
adjective
-
having an unusual interest in death or unpleasant events
-
gruesome
-
relating to or characterized by disease; pathologic
a morbid growth
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of morbid
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin morbidus “sickly,” from morb(us) “disease, sickness” + -idus -id 4
Explanation
If the first section of the newspaper you read is the obituaries, you could be considered morbid. Morbid is a word used to describe anyone who spends too much time thinking about death or disease. A lot of English words relating to medicine and science come from Latin, and the adjective morbid is one of them; it comes from the root morbidus, meaning "diseased" or "sick." Morbid can also be used to describe other nouns besides people. If you wear Goth clothing, your wardrobe might be described as morbid. And if you hang tombstones on your walls, your taste in art could also be described as morbid.
Vocabulary lists containing morbid
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Rap Lyrics
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Grade 10, List 5
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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.
Sorry to be morbid, but were you close to death?
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
“In this interregnum,” he continued, “appear a great variety of morbid symptoms.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
However, what Jemima and far too many children like her experience today goes far beyond morbid curiosity.
From Slate • May 12, 2026
Between 2018 and 2023, the DOJ says, Aetna submitted or failed to withdraw erroneous codes for morbid obesity, applied to plan members whose body-mass index, or BMI, “was inconsistent” with such a diagnosis.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
Olmsted found the English countryside charming, the weather bleak and morbid.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
