gloom
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gloom
(glo͞om)n.
1.
a. Partial or total darkness; dimness: switched on a table lamp to banish the gloom of a winter afternoon.
b. A partially or totally dark place, area, or location.
2.
a. An atmosphere of melancholy or depression: Gloom pervaded the office.
b. A state of melancholy or depression; despondency.
v. gloomed, gloom·ing, glooms
v.intr.
1. To be or become dark, shaded, or obscure.
2. To feel, appear, or act despondent, sad, or mournful.
v.tr.
1. To make dark, shaded, or obscure.
2. Archaic To make despondent; sadden.
[Probably from Middle English gloumen, to become dark, look glum.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
gloom
(ɡluːm)n
1. partial or total darkness
2. a state of depression or melancholy
3. an appearance or expression of despondency or melancholy
4. poetic a dim or dark place
vb
5. (intr) to look sullen or depressed
6. to make or become dark or gloomy
[C14 gloumben to look sullen; related to Norwegian dialect glome to eye suspiciously]
ˈgloomful adj
ˈgloomfully adv
ˈgloomless adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
gloom
(glum)n.
1. total or partial darkness.
2. a state of melancholy or depression.
3. a despondent or depressed look or expression.
v.i. 4. to appear or become dark, dim, or somber.
5. to look sad or dejected; frown.
v.t. 6. to make gloomy.
7. to make dark or somber.
[1300–50; (v.) Middle English gloumben,glomen to frown, perhaps representing Old English *glūmian (akin to early German gläumen to make turbid); see glum]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gloom
See Also: BEHAVIOR; DEJECTION; FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, SERIOUS; SADNESS
- Bleak and uninviting as an empty hotel room —Jonathan Valin
- Bleak as a winter hillside —F. van Wyck Mason
- Brain which had become as inhospitable to the brighter side of life as a house without windows is to cheerful lodgers —Bertold Brecht
- Brooded over … misfortune, like Hamlet or a character in Ibsen —Mary McCarthy
- Brooding … like a martyr —Paul Reidinger
- Brooding like a woman unsatisfied —Joanne Selzer The comparison as used by the author in a poem entitled Summer Heat refers to the atmosphere after a heavy storm. The simile in its full context begins as follows: “The air hung heavy after the storm, brooding …”
- Brood like a ghost —Fannie Stearns Gifford
- Cheerful as a turkey before Thanksgiving —Anon Variants for changing seasons include: “Cheerful as a rabbit before Easter” and “Cheerful as a goose before Christmas.”
- Cold and gray … like the mortuary —Mike Fredman
- Dour as a wet cat —Warren Beck
- Felt heavy as Sunday —John Braine
- Gloom … dark and stagnant like a bed of straw for sick livestock —Kenzaburo Oë
- Gloom, like a poisonous mist, fills the car —Ira Wood
- Gloomy and melancholy, like ghosts —Mark Twain
- Gloomy as a beach resort on a wet Sunday in July —Anon This may be inspired by a much-used, also unattributed simile, “Gloomy as a graveyard on a wet Sunday afternoon.”
- [A house] gloomy as a crypt —Michael Korda
- Gloomy as a tick on Sunday —Grace Paley
- Gloomy as a wet holiday —Anon
- Gloomy as night —Homer
- Glum as a gumboil, as sad as despair —Don Marquis
- Glum as a student who’s fallen hopelessly behind —John Gardner
- Glum as a tongue-tied parrot —Joseph C. Lincoln
- Grew clouded and closed, like the dense pallid sky —Sylvia Berkman
See Also: RESERVE
- Ill-humor is like laziness, for it is a kind of laziness —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- It was the kind of day that made suicide look like a reasonable proposition —Mike Fredman
See Also: DAY
- Looked like he swallowed a lemon —William Diehl
- Melancholy as a defeated politician —Herbert V. Prochnow
- Melancholy as a gib [castrated] cat —William Shakespeare
- Melancholy sound … like the weeping of a solitary, deserted human heart —Guy de Maupassant
See Also: NOISE
- Moping around like a chicken with the dropsy —Babs H. Deal
- (The men grew silent and) morose like lumps of soft coal —Richard Ford
- A sense of melancholy had enveloped her like a sheath —Charles Johnson
- (My grandmother had) a permanently bleak outlook … like one of those cartoon characters with a small cloud over their heads —Susan Walton, New York Times/Hers, June 25, 1987
- Somber and unreadable as Latin —Tony Ardizzone
- Sour as port decanted too long —Truman Capote
- Sulked like a bear —Anon
- We [three motorists] drove out the lane like a funeral cortege —Ross Macdonald
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
gloom
Past participle: gloomed
Gerund: glooming
Imperative |
---|
gloom |
gloom |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Noun | 1. | gloom - a state of partial or total darkness; "he struck a match to dispel the gloom" semidarkness - partial darkness |
2. | gloom - a feeling of melancholy apprehension apprehension, apprehensiveness, dread - fearful expectation or anticipation; "the student looked around the examination room with apprehension" melancholy - a feeling of thoughtful sadness | |
3. | gloom - an atmosphere of depression and melancholy; "gloom pervaded the office" ambiance, ambience, atmosphere - a particular environment or surrounding influence; "there was an atmosphere of excitement" cloud - a cause of worry or gloom or trouble; "the only cloud on the horizon was the possibility of dissent by the French" bareness, bleakness, desolation, nakedness - a bleak and desolate atmosphere; "the nakedness of the landscape" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
gloom
noun
1. darkness, dark, shadow, cloud, shade, twilight, dusk, obscurity, blackness, dullness, murk, dimness, murkiness, cloudiness, gloominess, duskiness the gloom of a foggy November morning
darkness light, daylight, radiance
darkness light, daylight, radiance
2. depression, despair, misery, sadness, sorrow, blues, woe, melancholy, unhappiness, desolation, despondency, dejection, low spirits, downheartedness the deepening gloom over the economy
depression delight, joy, happiness, brightness, high spirits, mirth, cheerfulness, jollity
depression delight, joy, happiness, brightness, high spirits, mirth, cheerfulness, jollity
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
gloom
nounA feeling or spell of dismally low spirits:
blues, dejection, depression, despondence, despondency, doldrums, dolefulness, downheartedness, dumps, dysphoria, funk, glumness, heavy-heartedness, melancholy, mope (used in plural), mournfulness, sadness, unhappiness.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
ظَلام دامِس، حُلْكَهغَم، كَرَب، كآبَه
šerosmutek
forstemthedmørke
drungi, depurîmyrkur, dimma
liūdesysslogus
drūmumsnomāktībatumsa
gloom
[gluːm] N2. (= sadness, despondency) → melancolía f, tristeza f
it's not all gloom and doom here → aquí no todo son pronósticos de desastre
she's always full of gloom and doom → siempre lo ve todo negro
it's not all gloom and doom here → aquí no todo son pronósticos de desastre
she's always full of gloom and doom → siempre lo ve todo negro
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
gloom
[ˈgluːm] n (= darkness) → obscurité f
(= pessimism) → tristesse f, mélancolie f
economic gloom → morosité économique
gloom and doom → morosité et sinistrose
economic gloom → morosité économique
gloom and doom → morosité et sinistrose
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
gloom
n
(= darkness) → Düsterkeit f
(= sadness) → düstere or gedrückte Stimmung; economic gloom → depressive Wirtschaftslage; an air or atmosphere of gloom → eine düstere or gedrückte Atmosphäre; to cast a gloom over something → einen Schatten auf etw (acc) → werfen; a gloom descended on us → eine düstere Stimmung überkam uns; he was filled with gloom → er war sehr bedrückt or niedergeschlagen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
gloom
(gluːm) noun1. a state of not quite complete darkness. I could not tell the colour of the car in the gloom.
2. sadness. The king's death cast a gloom over the whole country.
ˈgloomy adjective1. sad or depressed. Don't look so gloomy.
2. depressing. gloomy news.
3. dim; dark. gloomy rooms.
ˈgloominess nounKernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.