Synonyms of glum

glum

adjective

ˈgləm 

1

as in bleak

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

the usual glum waiting room at the tax collector's office

a cold, glum day

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bleak
• somber
• lonely
• depressing
• depressive
• dark
• solemn
• desolate
• darkening
• murky
• lonesome
• cold
• morbid
• gray
• miserable
• depressed
• gloomy
• morose
• sullen
• blue
• cheerless
• sad
• dreary
• black
• lugubrious
• funereal
• dismal
• disconsolate
• forlorn
• wretched
• chill
• dire
• saturnine
• melancholy
• sepulchral
• cloudy
• elegiac
• comfortless
• oppressive
• drear
• unhappy
• dreich
• dejected
• desperate
• woebegone
• dull
• godforsaken
• hopeless
• despondent
• grim
• mournful
• tenebrous
• melancholic
• mirthless
• pessimistic
• negative
• dim
• sunless
• plutonian
• Cimmerian
• dispiriting
• discouraging
• inconsolable
• woeful
• distressful
• droopy
• tenebrific
• dismaying
• hangdog
• disheartening
• sorrowful
• menacing
• upsetting
• distressing
• drab
• dour
• low
• down
• lamentable
• plaintive
• discomfiting
• colorless
• threatening
• lowering
• lowery

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cheerful
• bright
• cheery
• friendly
• festive
• gay
• cordial
• sunshiny
• comforting
• joyous
• jolly
• merry
• joyful
• buoyant
• optimistic
• mirthful
• gay
• blithe
• hopeful
• encouraging
• cheering
• heartwarming
• blithesome
• jocund
• lighthearted
• lightsome

2

as in sad

feeling unhappiness

how can you be glum after such a great day?

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sad
• depressed
• unhappy
• miserable
• heartbroken
• melancholy
• bad
• sorry
• upset
• worried
• gloomy
• dejected
• mournful
• downcast
• sorrowful
• hopeless
• uneasy
• doleful
• woebegone
• disappointed
• joyless
• crestfallen
• disconsolate
• despondent
• forlorn
• melancholic
• troubled
• hangdog
• depressing
• blue
• heartsick
• inconsolable
• woeful
• downhearted
• droopy
• wretched
• saddened
• distressed
• low-spirited
• brokenhearted
• down
• suicidal
• heavyhearted
• discouraged
• down in the mouth
• heartsore
• low
• despairing
• bleak
• dispirited
• aggrieved
• tearful
• somber
• cast down
• sunk
• lugubrious
• grieving
• disheartened
• unquiet
• morose
• sullen
• cheerless
• weeping
• morbid
• desolate
• dolorous
• regretful
• anguished
• dreary
• lachrymose
• plaintive
• rueful
• dismal
• gray
• dark
• saturnine
• agonized
• drear
• wailing
• funereal
• elegiac
• comfortless
• black
• murky
• darkening

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cheerful
• cheery
• joyous
• happy
• joyful
• jubilant
• upbeat
• buoyant
• gleeful
• sunny
• glad
• blissful
• exuberant
• jolly
• jovial
• exultant
• merry
• buoyed
• chipper
• ecstatic
• delighted
• euphoric
• optimistic
• rapturous
• mirthful
• blithe
• enraptured
• rosy
• jocular
• excited
• rhapsodic
• hopeful
• jocose
• sanguine
• elated
• exhilarated
• overjoyed
• gladsome
• energetic
• smiling
• gladdened
• perky
• jocund
• lively
• blithesome
• spirited
• vivacious
• vital
• sprightly
• jaunty
• entranced
• frisky
• animated
• lightsome
• laughing
• peppy
• content
• springy
• satisfied
• bouncing
• encouraged
• pleased
• thrilled
• unconcerned
• grinning
• zippy
• careless
• carefree
• gratified
• lighthearted
• easygoing
• insouciant
• heartened
• cavalier
• boon
• beaming
• sprightful
• happy-go-lucky
• devil-may-care

3

as in pouting

given to or displaying a resentful silence and often irritability

a chronically glum and pouting child

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pouting
• irritable
• sullen
• sulky
• pouty
• surly
• mopey
• brooding
• morose
• dour
• gloomy
• sensitive
• grumpy
• cross
• peevish
• petulant
• grouchy
• snappish
• irascible
• disagreeable
• crotchety
• waspish
• testy
• crabby
• pettish
• choleric
• dyspeptic
• snarky
• cranky
• cantankerous
• bilious
• raspy
• ornery
• snippy
• tetchy
• perverse
• ratty
• moping
• prickly
• short-tempered
• bearish
• huffy
• ill-humored
• snippety
• temperamental
• quick-tempered
• ill-tempered
• ill-natured
• snappy
• touchy
• thin-skinned

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cheerful
• sociable
• cheery
• sunny
• perky
• good-natured
• carefree
• easygoing
• relaxed
• good-humored
• good-tempered
• gladsome
• happy-go-lucky

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

Recent Examples of glum

The president himself has, in recent weeks, appeared glum about his chances of winning the appeal and maintaining the IEEPA tariffs. —Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 7 Jan. 2026

As for his team losing out on a playoff berth the night before Charles' appearance on Fallon, though, the Ravens fan was glum. —Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026

So far, however, the city hasn’t seen an exodus of its richest residents, and their alarm has lapsed into glum acceptance. —Michael Powell, The Atlantic, 1 Jan. 2026

Ejae, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna perch in director’s chairs at Netflix’s New York City headquarters on a glum October morning. —Eliza Berman, Time, 9 Dec. 2025