1
: moodily or sullenly thoughtful or serious
a brooding genius
a brooding, embittered man
2
: darkly somber
a brooding landscape
a quiet, brooding atmosphere
… brooding, violent images reminiscent of … film noir …—
Tracy Hopkins
Tracy Hopkins
broodingly
adverb
a broodingly handsome actor
Gardner gazes broodingly at the camera …
—Kathleen Murphy
Kathleen Murphy
Examples of brooding in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And the movie has a real sweetness and sincerity to it, determined to give family audiences a superhero flick that’s not all ponderous brooding and dark origin stories.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 11 July 2025
Gone too is the brooding, gritty Man of Steel of previous iterations.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 11 July 2025
In Nolan’s vision, Batman was a vastly complicated superhero, brooding and unknowable.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 July 2025
Researchers found strong correlations between fear of self-compassion and both types of rumination, especially brooding.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for brooding
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Tim Grierson, Vulture, 11 July 2025
Gone too is the brooding, gritty Man of Steel of previous iterations.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 11 July 2025
In Nolan’s vision, Batman was a vastly complicated superhero, brooding and unknowable.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 July 2025
Researchers found strong correlations between fear of self-compassion and both types of rumination, especially brooding.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for brooding
Cite this Entry
“Brooding.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brooding. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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