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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 Imagine, then, my discontent on learning of a recent U.K. court decision that underscores our glum reality. Robert Goulder, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025 Spencer Platt | Getty Images Taken from CNBC’s Daily Open, our international markets newsletter — Subscribe today The U.S. consumer hasn’t felt so glum about the economy since November 2022, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 17 Mar. 2025 On the industry side, homebuilders are feeling glum amid tariff talk. Jasmine Cui, NBC news, 27 Mar. 2025 Kyiv launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly glum news from the front line, as well as draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 13 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for glum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum
Adjective
  • The latest Email Threat Trends Report from VIPRE paints a bleak picture.
    Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
  • Related article Putin just called Trump’s bluff on Ukraine, with the Russian art of the ‘no’ deal Ukraine in 2025 is a bleak prospect.
    Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • For someone who prizes roadside Americana, this is the visual version of the sad trombone sound.
    Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2025
  • After the show, there's booze, girls, and hotel suites, but Abel's locked in the bathroom, being sad.
    Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 15 May 2025
Adjective
  • That’s the question writer-director Ari Aster’s somber comedy-Western Eddington, playing in competition here at the Cannes Film Festival, appears to be asking.
    Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 17 May 2025
  • Rayburn partners up with local sheriff Alice Gustafson (Annabelle Wallis) in a somber yet tumultuous pursuit of a killer who uses brutal traps and primal tactics.
    Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
Adjective
  • Never as rich as its aesthetics intimate, the U.S. met the nineties financially—and, therefore, spiritually—depressed.
    Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 10 May 2025
  • Though fun is a funny word to use considering Thunderbolts is all about depressed anti-heroes looking for a sense of purpose.
    Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 3 May 2025
Adjective
  • It is believed to reduce pain and inflammation, and has been used for treatment of back pain, high blood pressure, arthritis, migraines, and irritable bowel disease.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 4 Apr. 2025
  • And even in what was a stilted match played in an increasingly irritable atmosphere, Rogers and Tielemans delivered with an assist each.
    Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Health officials have said the United States is facing a mental health crisis, and in 2023, nearly 1 in 4 adults around the world reported feeling fairly or very lonely.
    Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 17 May 2025
  • Similarly, a cat was sent to a shelter after 10 years in a home after his owner passed away, leaving him lonely and searching for a new home.
    Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
Adjective
  • However, the Palestinians are unhappy with the speed of FIFA’s inquiries.
    Adam Crafton, New York Times, 16 May 2025
  • Their presidential candidate, Erika Meza, a 25-year veteran teacher from the Southeast Side, is unhappy with what CTU has come to symbolize.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • The days’ loss was evident in his sullen expression, but his presence indicated his desire to play before Arniel confirmed it.
    Murat Ates, New York Times, 18 May 2025
  • For the Canucks, however, and for their fans, there’s no time to be sullen about Tocchet’s decision.
    Thomas Drance, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Glum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/glum. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

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