solemn

solemn

adjective

Definition of SOLEMN

1

having or showing a formal and serious or reserved manner <the director of the funeral home has a fittingly solemn demeanor>

Synonyms august, distingué, distinguished, imposing, portly, solemn, staid, stately

Related Words decorous, proper, seemly; grave, grim, po-faced [British], sober, somber (or sombre); aristocratic, elegant, elevated, handsome, lordly, magisterial, majestic, noble

Near Antonyms coarse, crass, crude, improper, indecent, uncouth, unseemly, vulgar

Antonyms flighty, frivolous, giddy, goofy, silly, undignified

2

not joking or playful in mood or manner <solemn as a judge>

Synonyms earnest, grave, humorless, no-nonsense, po-faced [British], sedate, severe, sober, sobersided, solemn, staid, uncomic, unsmiling, weighty

Related Words harsh, stern, strict; businesslike, professional; dignified, distinguished, elevated, serious-minded; gloomy, grim

Near Antonyms antic, comic, comical, droll, farcical, funny, hilarious, hysterical (also hysteric), laughable, light, light-headed, ludicrous, ridiculous, riotous, risible, screaming, sidesplitting, uproarious; featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, goofy, harebrained, lighthearted, puerile, scatterbrained; absurd, asinine, balmy, brainless, cockeyed, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dotty, fatuous, foolish, half-witted, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany

Antonyms facetious, flip, flippant, humorous, jesting, jocular, joking, kittenish, ludic, playful

3

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer <the Capitol's rotunda was draped in solemn decorations of a state funeral>

Synonyms black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched

Related Words blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful; dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting; desperate, hopeless, pessimistic; lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful; colorless, drab, dull; dour, grim, lowering (also louring), lowery (also loury), 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, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny