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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 Despite her glum report, Bothwell expressed some hope. Steven Mihailovich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2025 So those are the tracks that determinedly break from the overriding tone that runs through the other songs, which is rather more glum, or at least searching and reflective about why too much time got wasted in a long, nowhere love affair. Chris Willman, Variety, 20 June 2025 Returning to work and dealing with strict COVID-19 protocols, inflation and supply-chain issues, crews could be glum. Steve Knopper, Billboard, 9 June 2025 The brood includes an addled patriarch who often forgets to wear pants, an observant matriarch and, best of all, a glum but handsome son (Charlie Anson). Randy Myers, Mercury News, 22 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for glum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum
Adjective
  • While there is still a chance that Sanders and Colorado can turn things around, the rest of the season is looking bleak.
    Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
  • From a bleak job hunt upon her arrival in 2016 to undergoing treatment for her second bout with breast cancer during the uncertainty and fear of COVID, Davis recalls her journey through raw vulnerability and splashes of humor.
    Essence, Essence, 1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Is this a deeply sad, award-winning tearjerker of a drama?
    James Factora, Them., 26 Sep. 2025
  • The schism that developed between Ric and Ben is a very sad part of the story.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • According to the tabloid site, the couple seemed more somber and tense than usual.
    Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 27 Sep. 2025
  • The mood on the ice and in the dressing room was somber Thursday when Barkov crumbled to the ice following a noncontact drill and had to be helped off the ice by two team staff members.
    Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The writer, known for her trailblazing work in confessional poetry, was clinically depressed and died by suicide at age 30.
    Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Barbeau had been living alone, depressed and isolated since Jessica’s death.
    Jon Michael Varese, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • However, such symptoms are hard to attribute to vaccines because infants can be irritable or fussy regardless of vaccination.
    Aria Bendix, NBC news, 19 Sep. 2025
  • When the caffeine wears off, children may have a headache and feel irritable or tired.
    Dr. Mark Corkins, Boston Herald, 14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • In the play, Farrow played Sharon, a lonely Iowa woman – estranged from her adult son, divorced from her husband – who decides to take a boarder into her large farmhouse.
    Denise Petski, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2025
  • But on the flip side, the one tally in the win column remains lonely as the team heads into its Week 5 matchup against the Jets in New York.
    Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Smart, much like Georgia’s fan base, is pretty unhappy after yet another loss to Alabama.
    Seth Emerson, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
  • While there are reasons to be unhappy with the performance, each win in the NFL is hard to get.
    Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Mark, with his fighting regimen, is a lot to handle, but so is Dawn, who’s a rather sullen party-girl princess.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Sep. 2025
  • The President is a sullen bore, but Servillo’s performance is always a hair less moribund than the movie around it, and held tight by the sincerity of his ambivalence.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 27 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Glum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/glum. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.

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