gloom

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable, usually) Darkness, dimness, or obscurity.
2. (uncountable, usually) A depressing, despondent, or melancholic atmosphere.
3. (uncountable, usually) Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.
4. (uncountable, usually) A drying oven used in gunpowder manufacture.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be dark or gloomy.
2. (intransitive) To look or feel sad, sullen or despondent.
3. (transitive) To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
4. (transitive) To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
5. To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.

Synonyms

darkness

melancholy

depression

gloominess

sadness

dejection

shadow

dark

sorrow

somberness

sombreness

unhappiness

grief

shade

obscurity

gloomy

dimness

dusk

murk

despondence

despondency

sad

☹️

despair

glumness

hopelessness

blackness

melancholia

twilight

lifelessness

sullenness

pessimism

moodiness

mopes

night

🌃

pensiveness

regret

sale

scowl

sorrowfulness

subtraction

tragedy

tristesse

trouble

unfriendliness

weakness

weariness

worry

total darkness

business recession

deep contemplation

Translations

oscurità

Trübsinn

Melancholie

Schwermut

oscuridad

mélancolie

Dunkelheit

tristesse

buio

tristezza

Düsterheit

obscurité

droefgeestigheid

trevas

Finsternis

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡluːm/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: *gloom

Inherited from Old English: glōm

Cognate with Norwegian: glom

Cognate with Scots: gloam

In summary

From Middle English *gloom, *glom, from Old English glōm (“gloaming, twilight, darkness”), from Proto-West Germanic *glōm, from Proto-Germanic *glōmaz (“gleam, shimmer, sheen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to gleam, shimmer, glow”). The English word is cognate with Norwegian glom (“transparent membrane”), Scots gloam (“twilight; faint light; dull gleam”).