sombre

US somber

/ (ˈsɒmbə) /

adjective

dismal; melancholy: a sombre mood
dim, gloomy, or shadowy

(of colour, clothes, etc) sober, dull, or dark

Origin of sombre

C18: from French, from Vulgar Latin subumbrāre (unattested) to shade, from Latin sub beneath + umbra shade

Derived forms of sombre

sombrely or US somberly, adverb
sombreness or US somberness, noun
sombrous (ˈsɒmbrəs), adjective

Words Nearby sombre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use sombre in a sentence

To highlight them, Frum believes, would have been to make the book less amusing and more sombre.
The Spectator Reviews "Patriots" | David Frum | June 14, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
His eyes became more sombre, looked suddenly as if even their material weight must have increased.
Bella Donna | Robert Hichens
The more his kind wife exerted herself to comfort him, the more obstinately he persisted in maintaining his own sombre views.
The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
In quiet shade the sombre valley lay,While all the little hills around were clothedWith the soft lustre of the dewy moon.
The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi | Giacomo Leopardi
Thick clouds of smoke overcast the sky, shrouding the morning with sombre gray.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman

If you can stand a few hours of talk from an old smacksman you may hear a sombre litany of horror.
The Chequers | James Runciman

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