gloom

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“
Adding to the gloom were accelerations in both input and output price inflation, to the quickest rates since July.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun Partial or total darkness; dimness: switched on a table lamp to banish the gloom of a winter afternoon.
  2. noun A partially or totally dark place, area, or location.
  3. noun An atmosphere of melancholy or depression: Gloom pervaded the office.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

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Examples (50)

  • Hiding in the gloom was a long bus flanked by a pair of fat freight trucks, each vehicle equipped with wide tires and extra suspension. —  Asimov's SF, October-November2006
  • When at last she spoke, the dry sandpaper rasp of her voice in the gloom was almost shocking. —  F ;SF; - vol 089 issue 04-05 - October-November 1995
  • It was now near sunset, and, in despite of my endeavours to the contrary, I was becoming somewhat anxious, as a gloom was already settling over the swamp, when, to my joy, I found myself upon the bayou or slough, whose illusory appearance I have noted. —  The Swamp Doctor's Adventures
  • His expression in the gloom was as twisted and bitter as his voice. —  KISSED BY SHADOWS
  • Anatole Kaletsky of The Times suggested last week that the views of such "opinion leaders" are a contrary indicator, and their gloom should be our cheer. —  On Line Opinion - Latest Articles
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

darkness ·  stillness ·  blackness ·  twilight ·  sadness ·  mist ·  sorrow ·  horror ·  confusion ·  shade ·  desolation ·  depth
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Probably from Middle English gloumen, to become dark, look glum.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Also in variant (dial.) form gloam; the noun is not found in Middle English; Anglo-Saxon glōm (found but once), twilight; apparently with noun-formative -m (as in bloom, doom, etc.), from glōwan, glow (taken in a weaker sense, ‘glimmer, shine dimly'): see glow, and see further under gloom, v.
  2. Also in variant (dial.) form gloam (glum, and Scots gloum, glump); from Middle English glomen (perhaps from Anglo-Saxon *glōmian, implied in the verbal noun glōmung: see glooming), Middle English also (in forms which are more particularly the source of glum, v.) glommen, gloumben, glowmben, frown, look sullen, = Swedish dial. glomma, stare; cf. Middle Low German glomen, Low German glummen, glömen, make turbid, glum, turbid: see glum. The Middle English verb may be of Low German or Scandinavian origin, but is ult. from the noun, Anglo-Saxon glōm, twilight: see gloom, n.
 

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