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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 Trout expresses optimism about quick return Angels star outfielder Mike Trout was in a jovial mood Friday, a far cry from the understandably glum tenor of his normal injury interviews. Sam Blum, New York Times, 3 May 2025 The New York Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations data released Monday added more glum outlooks to the growing pile of sour sentiment readings from Americans at a time when unpredictable federal policies have caused uncertainty and recession fears to spike. Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 14 Apr. 2025 By examining lots of logical reasoning examples, the aim is that the budding AI will mathematically and computationally glum onto how to best perform logical reasoning. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2025 Give me this version of Philadelphia mayhem over the glum Long Bright River or Dope Thief any day. Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for glum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum
Adjective
  • The reversal is notable because this traditionally bleak indicator had been trending more positively under Trump's second term—until now.
    Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
  • Restaurants were closed, staff were furloughed, and the broad outlook on the hospitality industry’s future was, in a word, bleak.
    Lela London, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025
Adjective
  • That's the sad reality facing many dogs in the wider shelter system.
    Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 July 2025
  • Know that all feelings are OK Some kids might be very sad or might be scared, and some kids might not have thought about this at all.
    Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman, 11 July 2025
Adjective
  • The work’s third movement offers an intriguing pizzicato section, as well moments of discordant — though not somber — unease.
    Sheila Regan, Twin Cities, 11 July 2025
  • Both the original Godzilla film—produced in Japan less than a decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and the 1956 version released in the States (with a performance by the actor Raymond Burr spliced in for American audiences) are somber and even daring for the time.
    Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 10 July 2025
Adjective
  • Screenshot from a July 1 TikTok video of a depressed golden retriever waiting for her dog dad to return 1 1/2 years after a breakup.
    Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
  • The law expands opportunity zones and extends tax benefits for investing in inner cities and economically depressed rural areas.
    Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • Determined to make a clean SPF, Brown says a chemical formula was out of the question (chemical sunscreens are often thought to be unsafe for the coral reef and irritable to sensitive skin types).
    Kiana Murden, Vogue, 9 July 2025
  • In my own experience, poor sleep has frequently been the reason behind feeling tired and irritable.
    Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, CNN Money, 8 July 2025
Adjective
  • Horgan’s Eva Garvey is funny and nurturing and grounded but also quite lonely and bitter, a character whose love and bile hold Bad Sisters together.
    Judy Berman, Time, 15 July 2025
  • Even the psychological pain can be hard to fathom, especially for those who have never truly been lonely.
    Paul Bloom, New Yorker, 14 July 2025
Adjective
  • That's become a new line of attack for the Trump administration, which is already unhappy with the Fed for not moving more aggressively to lower interest rates.
    Scott Horsley, NPR, 14 July 2025
  • Speculation is that Ferrari is unhappy with Vasseur's performance, although these rumors have been shut down by Vasseur, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc.
    Saajan Jogia, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • The reflection of my withered face, with deep sullen eyes, blurs behind raindrops sliding down the glass.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 July 2025
  • My partner came home from work to find a sullen child whimpering in his room.
    Jann Blackstone, Chicago Tribune, 10 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Glum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/glum. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

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