What does "gloom" mean?
Darkness, dimness, or obscurity.
Gloom
/ɡluːm/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Darkness, dimness, or obscurity.
- Grammar: gloom is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: somberness, adumbrate, becloud, bedarken.
- Useful contrasts: joyful affect, positive energy, whoopee.
- Usage evidence: Those gloom and doom economists aren't worth their salt.
How to use "gloom"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "gloom" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "gloom" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "gloom" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "gloom" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "gloom" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "somberness" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "gloom", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Darkness, dimness, or obscurity. uncountable, usually
"the gloom of a forest, or of midnight"
- 2 a feeling of melancholy apprehension wordnet
- 3 A depressing, despondent, or melancholic atmosphere. uncountable, usually
"A sudden little river crossed my path / As unexpected as a serpent comes. / No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms— / This, as it frothed by, might have been a bath / For the fiend's glowing hoof—to see the wrath / Of its black eddy bespate with flakes and spumes."
- 4 a state of partial or total darkness wordnet
- 5 Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness. uncountable, usually
"A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 an atmosphere of depression and melancholy wordnet
- 7 A drying oven used in gunpowder manufacture. uncountable, usually
Verb
- 1 To be dark or gloomy. intransitive
"Here, while the proud their long drawn pomps diſplay, / There the black gibbet glooms beſide the way."
- 2 To look or feel sad, sullen or despondent. intransitive
"Her face gathers, furrows, glooms; arching eyebrows wrinkle into horizontals, and a tinge of bitterness unsmooths the cheek and robs the lip of sweetened grace. She is evidently perturbed."
- 3 To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken. transitive
"A black yew gloom'd the stagnant air."
- 4 To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen. transitive
"For see you not, dear love, / Such a mood as that, which lately gloom'd / Your fancy when you saw me following you, / Must make me fear still more you are not mine, […]"
- 5 To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.
Antonyms
Example
"Those gloom and doom economists aren't worth their salt."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "gloom"?
Common synonyms include: somberness, adumbrate, becloud, bedarken, bedim, begloom.
How do you use "gloom" in a sentence?
Those gloom and doom economists aren't worth their salt.
How do you pronounce "gloom"?
Pronounced /ɡluːm/.
Etymology
From Middle English *gloom, *glom, from Old English glōm (“gloaming, twilight, darkness”), from Proto-West Germanic *glōm, from Proto-Germanic *glōmaz (“gleam, shimmer, sheen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to gleam, shimmer, glow”). The English word is cognate with Norwegian glom (“transparent membrane”), Scots gloam (“twilight; faint light; dull gleam”).