Sombre
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Gloom; obscurity; duskiness. Canada, UK, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 To make sombre or dark; to make shady. Canada, UK
- 1 Dark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit. Canada, UK
"The lady led him into a sombre hallway and disappeared. A moment later the windowless chamber was illuminated by the entry of a heavenly creature emitting a radiance prone to pierce the heart of any youth exposed to it."
- 2 Dull or dark in colour or brightness. Canada, UK
"His tall and slender figure, dressed in sombre black, his hair of that peculiar reddish auburn so rarely seen, his flashing black eyes, in which a fitful fire seemed for ever burning; all combined to give something almost of a demoniac air ..."
- 3 Melancholic, gloomy, dreary, dismal; grim. Canada, UK
"The dinner was silent and sombre; happily it was also short."
- 4 Grave; extremely serious. Canada, UK
"a sombre situation"
- 1 grave or even gloomy in character wordnet
- 2 lacking brightness or color; dull wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"We gazed round us at the high, thin window of old stained glass, the oak panelling, the stags’ heads, the coats-of-arms upon the walls, all dim and sombre in the subdued light of the central lamp."
Etymology
Borrowed from French sombre (“dark”), from Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer or Latin sub- + umbra. Compare Spanish sombra (“shade; dark part of a picture; ghost”).
Related phrases
More for "sombre"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.