somber

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑmbɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒmbə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

somber (comparative somberer, superlative somberest)

1. US standard spelling of sombre.
   • 1980, Earth, Wind & Fire, “Turn It Into Something Good”, in Faces:

     In your eyes the somber blues / Reflect a place from deep inside of knowing not what to do / I'll be your rock, when you're 'bout to fall / Together, we'll move on ahead and walk right through it all

   • 2002, Dirk Wittenborn, Fierce People:

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

   • 2019 October 1, Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, E. Knight, Sophie Perinot, Heather Webb, Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution's Women‎^[1], HarperCollins, →ISBN:

     Though I wore only a plain somber gray Brunswick gown unadorned by ribbon or lace, and my uncle was dressed in black, the people knew aristocrats on sight.

Derived terms

• somberish
• somberly
• somberness
• sombersome
• unsomber

Translations

sombre — see sombre

Verb

somber (third-person singular simple present sombers, present participle sombering, simple past and past participle sombered)

1. US standard spelling of sombre.

References

• “somber”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “somber”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Bomers, bromes, ombres, sombre

Dutch

Etymology

16th century. From Middle French sombre.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

somber (comparative somberder, superlative somberst)

1. somber (US), sombre (Commonwealth)

Declension

Declension of somber
uninflected	somber
inflected	sombere
comparative	somberder
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		somber	somberder	het somberst het somberste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	sombere	somberdere	somberste
	n. sing.	somber	somberder	somberste
	plural	sombere	somberdere	somberste
definite		sombere	somberdere	somberste
partitive		sombers	somberders	—

Derived terms

• somberaar
• somberen
• somberheid
• sombermans

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “somber”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute