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We send this word, glower, out to the glaring grumps, the scowling scoundrels, and the pouting pessimists of the world. Its gloomy roots grow in Scotland, where glower (or glowren, to use the older Scottish form of the word) has been used since the late Middle Ages. Originally, the word meant simply "to look intently" or "to stare in amazement," but by the late 1700s, glowering stares were being associated with anger instead of astonishment. We can offer no explanation for this semantic development, but we will submit that in its evolved form it reminds us of an older and unrelated English word: lower (it rhymes with flower) means "to frown or look sullen."
Examples of glower in a Sentence
Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025
Jaclyn makes eyes at some girls who glower at her across the club, because Jaclyn loves a gaze.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 16 Mar. 2025
Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2025
As Joey Locke, the overworked window washer frustrated with her thankless job in a corporate building, Ridley deploys the same glower for every challenge her character faces.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for glower
Cite this Entry
“Glower.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glower. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.
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