brooding

adjective

brood·​ing ˈbrü-diŋ 

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

broodingly adverb

a broodingly handsome actor

Gardner gazes broodingly at the camera …

—Kathleen Murphy

Examples of brooding in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Drawn from the same writing sessions that produced Love Is Not Enough, released in February, Hum of Hurt is the darker and more brooding sibling. — Alex Robert Ross, Pitchfork, 24 June 2026

That biography took the form of a dark romance between the self-lacerating Louis and his fiercely loving but brutal maker, Lestat, filtered through the former’s brooding subjectivity. — Judy Berman, Time, 2 June 2026

Sisters Ellie, Lily and Powell Balkcom delivered a powerfully brooding, almost hauntingly beautiful cover of a cover that has come to serve as a cornerstone of their emerging neo-traditional sound. — Chris Barilla, PEOPLE, 22 Apr. 2026

This week, Olivia Rodrigo falls head over heels in a dreamy synth-pop track, Tom Waits returns to music with a brooding, political Massive Attack collaboration, and Tyla and Zara Larsson team up for a sultry pop girl jam. — Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for brooding

• feuding
• alluding
• colluding
• concluding
• deluding
• denuding
• eluding
• excluding
• extruding
• exuding
• including
• intruding