1
: moodily or sullenly thoughtful or serious
a brooding genius
a brooding, embittered man
2
: darkly somber
a brooding landscape
a quiet, brooding atmosphere
… brooding, violent images reminiscent of … film noir …—
Tracy Hopkins
Tracy Hopkins
broodingly
adverb
a broodingly handsome actor
Gardner gazes broodingly at the camera …
—Kathleen Murphy
Kathleen Murphy
Examples of brooding in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Jenna Ortega, who plays the titular role, launched the Netflix series into phenomenon-level popularity when its brooding first season premiered in 2022.
—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024
The day of, NYU’s unofficial campus was flooded with more brooding brown-haired twinks than finals week as the Timothées descended on the park to hundreds of onlookers and dozens of journalists.
—Michael Savio, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
Catilina actually is a sci-fi hero, a collection of stereotypes about radical brilliance — brooding, brash, impatient, and masculine (the women in Megalopolis are cast as supportive helpmates or scheming bitches) — whose world-saving project is a blank space the movie can’t actually envision.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024
According to astrologer Kyle Thomas, Scorpios are stereotyped to be more dark and brooding than the other signs in the zodiac since they are ruled by Mars — the planet of aggression — and Pluto — the planet of the underworld.
—Andrea Wurzburger, People.com, 23 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for brooding 
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.
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024
The day of, NYU’s unofficial campus was flooded with more brooding brown-haired twinks than finals week as the Timothées descended on the park to hundreds of onlookers and dozens of journalists.
—Michael Savio, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
Catilina actually is a sci-fi hero, a collection of stereotypes about radical brilliance — brooding, brash, impatient, and masculine (the women in Megalopolis are cast as supportive helpmates or scheming bitches) — whose world-saving project is a blank space the movie can’t actually envision.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024
According to astrologer Kyle Thomas, Scorpios are stereotyped to be more dark and brooding than the other signs in the zodiac since they are ruled by Mars — the planet of aggression — and Pluto — the planet of the underworld.
—Andrea Wurzburger, People.com, 23 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for brooding
Articles Related to brooding
Dictionary Entries Near brooding
Cite this Entry
“Brooding.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brooding. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share