morosely
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of morosely
Explanation
When you do something morosely, you do it in a sullen, moody way. When you sit on the couch, sighing and looking sad because you didn't get invited to your friend's party, you are sitting there morosely. Morose means gloomy or in a bad mood, so whenever the adverb morosely describes your actions, you're not feeling very cheerful. There is an element of crankiness in the word morosely, which you can even see it its Latin root, morosus, which means "peevish." So when you do something morosely, you're not just sad, but you're making sure everyone knows how you're feeling.
Vocabulary lists containing morosely
Of Mice and Men
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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The Miracle Worker
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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.
Shakespeare wrote of the seven ages of man, ending morosely, “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
A TV set broadcast the gridiron action from one end of the venue while at the other end the band sat morosely, doubting they could compete for attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2024
Still, throughout the series, one of the recurring visual motifs for this character has been water: Kendall sinking morosely into a bathtub; Kendall falling face down into a pool; and so on.
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
Now, however, Trump usually appears alone, rather than flanked by Pence and the rest of the task force, and reads morosely from a script.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2020
Hughie and Jones sat for a while staring into space and then morosely they went over to the Hediondo Cannery and applied for jobs and got them.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
