somber

English

Alternative forms

• (Commonwealth English) sombre

Etymology

From French sombre (“shady, gloomy”), from Spanish sombra (“shade, dark part of a picture, also a ghost”), probably, from Latin *exumbrare, from ex (“out”) + umbra (“shade”), or according to some, the Spanish and Portuguese forms are, from Latin *subumbrare, from sub (“under”) + umbra (“shade”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊmə(r)

Adjective

somber (comparative somberer, superlative somberest)

1. Dark or dreary in character; joyless, and grim.
   • 2002, Dirk Wittenborn, Fierce People:

     My mother prepared herself for the evening with the same somber deliberateness of the gladiators in Spartacus.

2. Dark, lacking color or brightness.

Synonyms

• melancholy, unhappy, sad

Translations

dark or dreary in character; joyless; grim

Dutch: somber (nl) Finnish: synkkä (fi)

Hungarian: komor (hu), mogorva (hu) Scottish Gaelic: gruamach (gd)

dark, lacking color or brightness

Finnish: synkkä (fi), pimeä (fi)

Hungarian: sötét (hu), komor (hu)

External links

• somber in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• somber in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• sombre

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Dutch

Adjective

somber (comparative somberder, superlative somberst)

1. somber (US), sombre (Commonwealth)

Declension

Declension of somber

		positive	comparative	superlative
				attributive	predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial		somber	somberder
neuter singular	indefinite	somber	somberder
	definite	sombere	somberdere	somberste	het somberst(e)
common singular		sombere	somberdere	somberste	de somberste
plural		sombere	somberdere	somberste	de somberste
partitive		sombers	somberders