glum

adjective

ˈgləm 

glummer; glummest

1

: broodingly morose

became glum when they heard the news

2

: dreary, gloomy

a glum countenance

glumly adverb

glumness noun

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
• funereal
• gloomy
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Choose the Right Synonym for glum

sullen, glum, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed, saturnine, gloomy mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood.

sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

Examples of glum in a Sentence

There's no need to look so glum—things will get better soon.

There was a glum silence in the room.

Recent Examples on the Web

That might be a welcome reprieve for those of us who are usually glum during the holidays (just me?), but the blues can sneak up on anyone. —Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Dec. 2024

Ravens fans should take heart from his eagerness, even at the end of a glum weekend. —Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 2 Dec. 2024

For those glum that Saks Fifth Avenue sacked its holiday sound and light show, take heart. —Richard Johnson, New York Daily News, 17 Nov. 2024

In 1976, Jill haunts the public parlor like a glum ghost, no longer a sweet little kid but an an antsy, mousy 32-year-old with a secret cigarette habit. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 29 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

akin to Middle English gloumen to gloom

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

glum

adjective

ˈgləm 

glummer; glummest

1

: sullen sense 1a

2

: seeming gloomy and sad

a glum expression

glumly adverb

glumness noun