Home UK English gloom

Meaning of gloom in English:

gloom

Pronunciation /ɡluːm/

See synonyms for gloom

Translate gloom into Spanish

noun

mass noun

  • 1Partial or total darkness.

    ‘he strained his eyes peering into the gloom’
    • ‘The candles had burnt away to waxy stumps and the battery in one of the lamps had died through the night leaving her side sunk into darkness and gloom.’
    • ‘I was working by the sunlight while the rest of the room was enshrouded in darkness and gloom.’
    • ‘Something about the gloom and the darkness appealed to me, probably the same reason I loved horror movies.’
    • ‘With racing starting early and competitors setting off just seconds apart, the entry has to be limited to 1,800 to protect late runners from having to compete in dusk gloom.’
    • ‘Not the darkness of oblivion but the shroud of gloom on a sunless winter day, which made the room look as though as though the light had been switched off.’
    • ‘Through the distorted glass of the windows the flurries of snow continued to dance and swirl, the grey light turning the room to a place of gloom and shadows.’
    • ‘It leaned forward, and although it was half hidden in shadowy gloom, Peter could see that the dim white gleam of its skin was spotted with red.’
    • ‘After the twilight gloom of the entrance came the deepening blackness of the cave's belly.’
    • ‘I stood near a window, gazing into the vast darkness that enveloped the island in gloom.’
    • ‘Peering out past her hood into the dark gloom, she thought she made out a white shape fluttering in the wind of the storm.’
    • ‘The dusk only discernible from the jungle gloom by the sound of evening-song from invisible birds and the sharp slant of the setting sun between branches.’
    • ‘Through the now deepening gloom he could see her steeped in shadow, looking on to the deep gloom of the back of his garden.’
    • ‘But its overwhelming gloom withdraws into a hazy shadow as the moon showers its silver hues.’
    • ‘The tall warrior's hair flew against the breeze of the deep winter gloom.’
    • ‘The sun had set, and a darkening gloom hung over the land.’
    • ‘He had been away since the first rays of watery sunshine pierced the woodland gloom.’
    • ‘The massive ship's boilers were easily recognised, piercing the gloom like giant globes.’
    • ‘When she turned, she could see nothing but her sofa in the predawn gloom.’
    • ‘The surrounding lights seemed to dim, further deepening the gloom.’
    • ‘After a nice, sunny weekend, we're back to June gloom.’
    darkness, semi-darkness, dark, gloominess, dimness, blackness, murkiness, murk, shadows, shade, shadiness, obscurity
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1literary count noun A dark or shady place.
      ‘the meadow-hen floats off, to sink into remoter shades and ferny glooms’
      • ‘Blacks, whites, shadows, glooms, and cobwebs are also used with formidable effect in the Satis House scenes in Great Expectations.’
      • ‘He rode in a gloom full of sighing like voices and full of dropping like footsteps.’
      • ‘His ingenious lighting did much to make the most of the subtle settings, some of which poured strange light into Stygian glooms.’
      • ‘I sense she may stray into the odd shadowy church and weep there in the candlelit gloom.’

  • 2A state of depression or despondency.

    ‘a year of economic gloom for the car industry’
    • ‘his gloom deepened’
    • ‘The first of these seems to have caused a sense of gloom, despondency and weary hopelessness to descend on the author as he sat down to put his book together.’
    • ‘Though a settler-farmer not dependent entirely on farm income for a living, even I am not able to escape this feeling of gloom and depression.’
    • ‘This is not someone who views the way ahead with gloom and despondency.’
    • ‘The only feeling she could identify was one of gloom and depression.’
    • ‘Laughter gets rid of gloom, aggravation, depression, worry - all forms of tension.’
    • ‘The town was still plagued in gloom, and depression, and seemed to have only gotten worse over time.’
    • ‘City analysts feared the global economic gloom would affect consumers in the run-up to Christmas but they have instead witnessed a surge in spending.’
    • ‘We're staying several steps ahead of gloom, despair, deep dark depression, and excessive misery.’
    • ‘It was born into a period of economic gloom as those who were around in the early 1980s will recall.’
    • ‘He said the biggest danger came from those predicting economic gloom.’
    • ‘Our opposition is determined to create the myth that the last three years represented a period of unhappiness and gloom.’
    • ‘For years we have watched misery and gloom, death and fury.’
    • ‘The victory temporarily lifted the gloom surrounding the team's battle against relegation from the Premiership.’
    • ‘The morale-boosting victory lifted the gloom hanging over the club amid the uncertainty surrounding its future.’
    • ‘The hope is that this will offset the gathering gloom about prospects.’
    • ‘He has been such a bright and consistent light amidst the usual gathering glooms.’
    • ‘After the lengthy period of economic gloom in the tech sector, that's a good thing.’
    • ‘I had no words of wisdom to dispel his gloom, no comfort to offer him.’
    • ‘I hope by the end of this article to have lightened the gloom.’
    • ‘So they continued, but a cloud of gloom hung over the company.’
    despondency, depression, dejection, downheartedness, dispiritedness, heavy-heartedness, melancholy, melancholia, unhappiness, sadness, glumness, gloominess, low spirits, dolefulness, misery, sorrow, sorrowfulness, forlornness, woefulness, woe, wretchedness, lugubriousness, moroseness, mirthlessness, cheerlessness
    View synonyms

verb

[no object]

  • 1literary Have a dark or sombre appearance.

    ‘the black gibbet glooms beside the way’
    • ‘Lucia looked outside and saw grey smoldered clouds glooming over her house, the redness of dawn shined behind its gloomy mask.’
    • ‘Pretty soon, she was deep into her daydreams and didn't realize the peeved teacher glooming over her desk.’
    • ‘He got to the end and stopped; a deadly silence gloomed.’
    • ‘Just then, he saw a large house glooming in the distance.’
    • ‘A darkness gloomed high over them and their heatbeats subsided and they stopped dead in their steps.’
    1. 1.1with object Make dark or dismal.
      • ‘a black yew gloom'd the stagnant air’

  • 2Be or look depressed or despondent.

    ‘Charles was always glooming about money’
    • ‘Of course they have every right to celebrate, after glooming for so long and not knowing what's going to happen, this serves as their first big break.’
    • ‘Light and dark, the sun and the moon - don't let these dualities lead you to gloom.’
    • ‘But sometimes, even how happy your day was there would come an instance where the sun would hide and we feel gloomed.’
    • ‘‘The combination of risks and uncertainties is more numerous than probably at any time in recent world history,’ he gloomed to the newspaper.’
    • ‘He gloomed over average household rates rises of 4.5 percent this year, warned that they could fire inflation, cause a tightening in monetary policy, depress the entire economy.’

Origin

Late Middle English (as a verb): of unknown origin.