glum

adjective

ˈgləm 

glummer; glummest

1

: broodingly morose

became glum when they heard the news

2

: dreary, gloomy

a glum countenance

glumly adverb

glumness noun

Synonyms

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

Choose the Right Synonym for glum

sullen, glum, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed, saturnine, gloomy mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood.

sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

Examples of glum in a Sentence

There's no need to look so glum—things will get better soon.

There was a glum silence in the room.

Recent Examples on the Web

Give me this version of Philadelphia mayhem over the glum Long Bright River or Dope Thief any day. —Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2025

Sometimes they’re carried along on glum motorcycle rides, meandering downriver journeys, and great leaps forward in time. —Justin Chang, New Yorker, 2 May 2025

After failing to win their third straight Super Bowl, things seemed a bit glum, but some decent moves have been made by the team so far. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025

But in a season filled with glum for the Sixers, Guerschon Yabusele has been a bright spot. —Bobby Krivitsky, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

akin to Middle English gloumen to gloom

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for glum

• bum
• chum
• come
• crum
• cum
• drum
• dum
• dumb
• from
• frum
• gum
• hum

Kids Definition

glum

adjective

ˈgləm 

glummer; glummest

1

: sullen sense 1a

2

: seeming gloomy and sad

a glum expression

glumly adverb

glumness noun