Entry Word: gloomy

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer <the cold rain made for a gloomy day>

Synonyms black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, desolate, dismal, drear, dreary, elegaic, funereal, glum, gray (also grey), miserable, morbid, morose, murky, saturnine, sepulchral, somber (or sombre), sullen, wretched

Related Words dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, droopy, inconsolable, low, melancholy, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful; discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting; desperate, hopeless, pessimistic; lamentable, lugubrious, mournful, sorrowful; cloudy, colorless, drab, dull; dour, grim, lowering (also louring), menacing, negative, oppressive, threatening

Near Antonyms blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful; encouraging, hopeful, optimistic; lighthearted, lightsome

Antonyms bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, gay, festive, friendly, heartwarming, sunshiny

2 feeling unhappiness <has been gloomy ever since his girlfriend and her family moved away> — see sad 1
3 being without light or without much light <that house would be less gloomy if some of the overgrown trees and shrubs were cleared away> — see dark 1