macabre

adjective

ma·ca·bre mə-ˈkäb

-ˈkä-brə

-bər,

-ˈkäbrᵊ

Synonyms of macabre next

: having death as a subject : comprising or including a personalized representation of death

The macabre dance included a procession of skeletons.

: dwelling on the gruesome

a macabre presentation of a tragic story

: tending to produce horror in a beholder

this macabre procession of starving peasants

Did you know?

We trace the origins of macabre to the name of the Book of Maccabees, which is included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha. Sections of this biblical text address both the deaths of faithful people asked to renounce their religion, and the manner in which the dead should be properly commemorated. In medieval France, representations of these passages were performed as a procession or dance which became known as the "dance of death" or "dance Maccabee"; the latter was spelled in several different ways, including danse de Macabré. In English, macabre was originally used in reference to this "dance of death" but then gradually broadened in use to describe anything grim or horrific. Today macabre functions as a synonym of gruesome or repulsive, always with a connection to the physical aspects of death and suffering.

Choose the Right Synonym for macabre

ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, lurid mean horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect.

ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts.

a ghastly accident

grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty.

an unusually grisly murder

suffered a gruesome death

macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death.

a macabre tale of premature burial

lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder.

the lurid details of a crime

Examples of macabre in a Sentence

a macabre story of murder and madness Police discovered a macabre scene inside the house.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Black Sheep 2 will follow a young scientist who is convinced that a dangerous new pathogen threatens the population and tracks it back to her hometown – which is located in the shadow of the remote sheep station where the macabre events of the original Black Sheep unfolded. —

Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2024 Since the arrest of Sean Combs in September, it’s been impossible to scroll very far on Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram without running into a macabre joke about the rapper and entrepreneur better known as Diddy. —

Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 3 Nov. 2024 Though he’s inexplicably not mentioned in the title, Lon Chaney Jr. gives his fifth performance as the Wolf Man in this gleefully macabre monster mash-up. —

EW.com, 31 Oct. 2024 Of course, this being a Gaga video, her macabre costumes (styled by Peri Rosenzweig and Nick Royal) had to be avant-garde—and completely fabulous. —

Christian Allaire, Vogue, 30 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for macabre