GLUM Synonyms: 272 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'glum' different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of glum are crabbed , gloomy , morose , saturnine , sulky , sullen , and surly . While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," glum suggests a silent dispiritedness. // a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

Q: When is 'crabbed' a more appropriate choice than 'glum'?

Although the words crabbed and glum have much in common, crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner. // the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

Q: When can 'gloomy' be used instead of 'glum'?

In some situations, the words gloomy and glum are roughly equivalent. However, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness. // a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

Q: How do 'morose' and 'glum' relate to one another?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy. // morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

Q: When might 'saturnine' be a better fit than 'glum'?

While the synonyms saturnine and glum are close in meaning, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition. // a saturnine cynic always finding fault

Q: When is it sensible to use 'sulky' instead of 'glum'?

The words sulky and glum can be used in similar contexts, but sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness. // grew sulky after every spat

Q: When would 'sullen' be a good substitute for 'glum'?

The meanings of sullen and glum largely overlap; however, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable. // remained sullen amid the festivities

Q: When could 'surly' be used to replace 'glum'?

The synonyms surly and glum are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner. // a typical surly teenager

glum

adjective

ˈgləm

Definition of glum next

as in bleak

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer the usual glum waiting room at the tax collector's office a cold, glum day

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sad

feeling unhappiness how can you be glum after such a great day?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in pouting

given to or displaying a resentful silence and often irritability a chronically glum and pouting child

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word glum different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of glum are crabbed, gloomy, morose, saturnine, sulky, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

When is crabbed a more appropriate choice than glum?

Although the words crabbed and glum have much in common, crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When can gloomy be used instead of glum?

In some situations, the words gloomy and glum are roughly equivalent. However, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

How do morose and glum relate to one another?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When might saturnine be a better fit than glum?

While the synonyms saturnine and glum are close in meaning, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

When is it sensible to use sulky instead of glum?

The words sulky and glum can be used in similar contexts, but sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

When would sullen be a good substitute for glum?

The meanings of sullen and glum largely overlap; however, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When could surly be used to replace glum?

The synonyms surly and glum are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Examples Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of glum 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 And despite Americans' glum outlook about the economy, consumers are still spending. —

Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 30 Oct. 2024 The numbers follow a glum second quarter when the company missed estimates and the stock tumbled. —

Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2024 This may come as glum news for the next generation of bankers but the story is different for shareholders. —

Michael Del Castillo, Fortune, 16 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for glum

Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum

Adjective

But beneath Pansy’s rage, often a source of that specific, bleak brand of Mike Leigh comedy, lies severe OCD, anxiety, depression, and the grief of having recently lost her mother.

Radhika Seth, Vogue, 7 Jan. 2025
While the art world has felt bleak amid a buckling market, a new art fair is gracing Los Angeles this year.

Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 6 Jan. 2025