funereal

adjective

fu·​ne·​re·​al fyu̇-ˈnir-ē-əl 

1

: of or relating to a funeral

2

: befitting or suggesting a funeral (as in solemnity)

funereally

fyu̇-ˈnir-ē-ə-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• Cimmerian
• cloudy
• cold
• comfortless
• dark
• darkening
• depressing
• depressive
• desolate
• dire
• disconsolate
• dismal
• drear
• dreary
• dreich [chiefly Scottish]
• elegiac
• elegiacal
• forlorn
• gloomy
• glum
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Examples of funereal in a Sentence

shivered with cold in the dark and funereal Victorian mansion

Recent Examples on the Web

Last Friday, a sullen Antonio Conte appeared in a funereal black hoodie for his weekly press conference. —James Horncastle, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025

Jon Stewart says Vice President Harris overseeing President-elect Trump’s electoral victory as a tally of states was read on the House floor Monday had a funereal feeling to it. —Judy Kurtz, The Hill, 7 Jan. 2025

That film was a loving, baroque homage to Murnau’s original, staged with funereal elegance and starring a melancholic Klaus Kinski in chalk-white makeup as the titular fiend. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024

Based on true events, director Maggie Betts' (The Novitiate) latest drama retells a real-life legal case that exposed massive inequality in funereal care and the way Black communities were being regularly overcharged. —Matt Kamen, WIRED, 26 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin funereus, from funer-, funus

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

funereal

adjective

fu·​ne·​re·​al fyu̇-ˈnir-ē-əl 

: suggesting a funeral

funereal gloom

funereally

-ē-ə-lē 

adverb