gloom

English

Etymology

From Middle English *gloom, *glom, from Old English glōm (“gloaming, twilight, darkness”), from Proto-Germanic *glōmaz (“gleam, shimmer, sheen”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to gleam, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with Norwegian glom (“transparent membrane”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /glum/, X-SAMPA: /glum/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

gloom (uncountable)

1. darkness, dimness or obscurity.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I had slept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yet it mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me in this horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work.

2. a melancholy, depressing or despondent atmosphere

Derived terms

• doom and gloom
• gloomily
• gloomleader (humorous)
• gloomy

Related terms

• gloam

Translations

darkness, dimness or obscurity

• Dutch: duisternis (nl) f
• French: obscurité (fr) f
• Georgian: წყვდიადი (ka) (cqvdiadi), ბნელეთი (ka) (bnelet’i), უკუნეთი (ka) (ukunet’i), სიბნელე (ka) (sibnele)

• Portuguese: trevas (pt)
• Russian: тьма (ru) (tʹma) f, мрак (ru) (mrak) m, темнота (ru) (temnota) f

a melancholy, depressing or despondent atmosphere

• French: morosité (fr) f, noirceur (fr) f, (dated) sombreur (fr) f
• Portuguese: trevas (pt)

• Russian: уныние (ru) (unynije) n

Verb

gloom (third-person singular simple present glooms, present participle glooming, simple past and past participle gloomed)

1. (intransitive) To be dark or gloomy.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 189:

     Around all the dark forest gloomed.

2. (intransitive) to look or feel sad, sullen or despondent.
   • D. H. Lawrence

     Ciss was a big, dark-complexioned, pug-faced young woman who seemed to be glooming about something.

3. (transitive) To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
   • Walpole

     A bow window […] gloomed with limes.

   • Tennyson

     A black yew gloomed the stagnant air.

4. (transitive) To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
   • Tennyson

     Such a mood as that which lately gloomed your fancy.

   • Goldsmith

     What sorrows gloomed that parting day.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.