macabre

English

WOTD – 31 October 2010

Etymology

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain, but possibly derives from the term danse macabre – the attribute of which was construed as an adjective – most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.

Another theory derives the term from Spanish macabro, from Arabic مَقَابِر (maqābir, “cemeteries”), plural of مَقْبَرَة (maqbara) or مَقْبُرَة (maqbura). Borrowing Arabic in plural form is not unusual: a similar case is the word magazine, derived from the plural مخازن maxāzin of the Arabic singular noun مخزن maxzan "storehouse/depot/shop".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈkɑːbɹə/, /məˈkɑːbə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /məˈkɑb(ɹə)/, /məˈkɑbɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Homophone: McCobb

Adjective

macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)

1. Representing or personifying death.
   • 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106

     There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world […] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.

2. Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
   • 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275

     Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.

3. Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
   • 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction

     The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

   Synonyms: ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Translations

representing or personifying death

• Basque: makabro
• Catalan: macabre (ca)
• Dutch: macaber (nl)
• French: macabre (fr)
• German: makaber (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: μακάβριος (el) (makávrios)
• Portuguese: macabro
• Romanian: macabru (ro)
• Romansch: macaber
• Spanish: macabro (es)

obsessed with death

• French: macabre (fr), morbide (fr), gothique (fr), thanatophile (fr)
• Romanian: macabru (ro)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: macabro (es), gótico (es) mórbido (es)
• Turkish: mevtapesent

ghastly, shocking, terrifying

• French: macabre (fr), sinistre (fr) lugubre (fr), morbide (fr), funèbre (fr), funeste (fr), effrayant (fr), horrible (fr)
• German: grausig (de)
• Greek: μακάβριος (el) (makávrios)
• Irish: adhfhuafar
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: makaber

  Nynorsk: makaber

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: makabryczny (pl) m
• Romanian: îngrozitor (ro)
• Spanish: macabro (es), funesto (es), siniestro (es), horroroso (es), horrendo, fúnebre (es), lúgubre (es)
• Turkish: korkunç (tr), dehşetengiz (tr)

See also

• Danse Macabre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• carbeam

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Catalan

Adjective

macabre (feminine macabra, masculine and feminine plural macabres)

1. macabre

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.kabʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

macabre (plural macabres)

1. macabre

Synonyms

• lugubre

Derived terms

• danse macabre

Further reading

• “macabre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Adjective

1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine plural of adjective macabro.

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [maˈka.bre]

Adjective

macabre

1. nominative feminine plural of macabru
2. accusative feminine plural of macabru
3. nominative neuter plural of macabru
4. accusative neuter plural of macabru