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as in sad
feeling unhappiness how can you be glum after such a great day?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word glum different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of glum are crabbed, gloomy, morose, saturnine, sulky, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

When is crabbed a more appropriate choice than glum?

Although the words crabbed and glum have much in common, crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When can gloomy be used instead of glum?

In some situations, the words gloomy and glum are roughly equivalent. However, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

How do morose and glum relate to one another?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When might saturnine be a better fit than glum?

While the synonyms saturnine and glum are close in meaning, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

When is it sensible to use sulky instead of glum?

The words sulky and glum can be used in similar contexts, but sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

When would sullen be a good substitute for glum?

The meanings of sullen and glum largely overlap; however, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When could surly be used to replace glum?

The synonyms surly and glum are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of glum The album’s emotional palette fluidly shifts between defiant bravado and glum recognition that the big dream was more than likely to crash and burn. Jesse Adams, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2025 Consumers report feeling increasingly glum about the economy. Rob Wile, NBC news, 16 Sep. 2025 Had that been the case, my glum head would have hit the pillow last night with nothing but images of Emil Bove to put me to sleep unamused. — Joe Pachino, Baltimore Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter. Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 18 July 2025 Despite her glum report, Bothwell expressed some hope. Steven Mihailovich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for glum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum
Adjective
  • When everything looks bleak, a woman holds it up victoriously.
    Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2025
  • New York — US stocks closed lower Thursday as concerns mounted about expensive tech stocks, and a risk-off sentiment spread through markets after new data showed a bleak outlook for the job market.
    John Towfighi, CNN Money, 6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Everyone's a little sad in The Holdovers, Alexander Payne's charmingly sour comedy about a student stuck at his New England boarding school over the holidays with only his grouchy professor (Paul Giamatti) and the school cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) for company.
    Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Nov. 2025
  • The 25-year-old wide receiver is sad to see his teammates go, but trusts the vision of the New York front office.
    Matt Audilet, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • With so many comedy writers on the bill, the Broder tribute was no somber affair.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 9 Nov. 2025
  • As is tradition, all the women were dressed in black ensembles to mark the somber occasion, which commemorates members of the military from Britain and the Commonwealth who have died in battle.
    Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 9 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • During the week, Aluko had described lying in bed at the height of the controversy, depressed and unable to eat.
    Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Perhaps this depressed valuation is what caught the eye of Carl Icahn.
    Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Most cases clear up on their own without complications, but parents should contact a doctor if a child cannot keep fluids down, has a high fever lasting more than a few days or seems unusually drowsy or irritable.
    Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Also known as irritable hip, the condition is due to inflammation of the hip joint lining.
    Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The touching dramedy centers on a lonely American actor (Brendan Fraser) who, after seven years living in Tokyo, still feels like an outsider.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
  • Phantom Son will center on Ronnie, a young and struggling runaway taken in by Audrey (Zellweger), a lonely woman whose own son was kidnapped twenty years earlier.
    Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Pauline Collins, the exuberant British actress who inspired women — and men, too — to do something to change their unhappy lives with her Oscar-nominated and Olivier- and Tony-winning performances in Shirley Valentine, has died.
    Lisa de los Reyes, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2025
  • That distaste didn’t hurt Spanberger and her ticket, because 18% of those unhappy voters backed her anyway.
    David Weigel, semafor.com, 5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • But the day remained gray, shrouded, and sullen.
    Joel M. Vance, Outdoor Life, 29 Oct. 2025
  • He’s been sullen all day, sunk in his collar, his face disdainful.
    David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Glum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/glum. Accessed 15 Nov. 2025.

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