Synonyms of lugubrious

lugubrious

adjective

lu̇-ˈgü-brē-əs 

1

as in somber

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

the diner's dim lighting makes eating there a particularly lugubrious experience

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

2

as in mournful

expressing or suggesting mourning

in Victorian times, people who could affect particularly lugubrious expressions were hired to march in funeral processions as professional mourners

Synonyms & Similar Words

• mournful
• weeping
• funeral
• heartbroken
• bitter
• melancholy
• wailing
• grieving
• doleful
• sad
• sorrowful
• lamentable
• anguished
• dolorous
• plaintive
• somber
• tearful
• unhappy
• agonized
• rueful
• aching
• sorry
• funereal
• regretful
• woeful
• plangent
• depressed
• morbid
• bleak
• dark
• crying
• elegiac
• deploring
• bewailing
• pathetic
• dolesome
• bemoaning
• gloomy
• miserable
• woebegone
• disconsolate
• downcast
• glum
• moody
• dejected
• dispirited
• darkening
• keening
• forlorn
• careworn
• inconsolable
• despondent
• morose
• crestfallen
• desolate
• heartsick
• gray
• cheerless
• sullen
• groaning
• joyless
• dreary
• bleeding
• pessimistic
• dismal
• piteous
• saturnine
• moaning
• black
• downhearted
• howling
• wretched
• low-spirited
• dirgelike
• brokenhearted
• low
• heartsore
• suffering
• triste
• comfortless
• bawling
• yammering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joyful
• triumphant
• happy
• cheerful
• cheery
• bright
• delighted
• smiling
• joyous
• laughing
• jolly
• merry
• buoyant
• mirthful
• rejoicing
• lighthearted
• exulting
• blithe
• blissful
• optimistic
• hopeful
• glorying
• encouraging
• cheering
• rapturous
• ecstatic
• rhapsodic
• blithesome
• euphoric
• giddy
• jocund
• heady
• exhilarated
• elated

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of lugubrious

On occasion, especially as the film builds to its lugubrious finale, Mielants tries other tricks, simulating long tracking shots that seem to glide through the school and then out onto the grounds. — Richard Lawson, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025

Some movie-goers love that sort of lugubrious, meditative filmmaking, some not so much, but either way — and to paraphrase Carly Simon — nobody does it better. — Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 28 June 2025

In one lugubrious sequence in which various members of Willie’s children’s generation take part in a pickleball tournament, the young men attempt to trash-talk one another. — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 1 June 2025

The lugubrious $190 million musical was a sad clown face on all fronts, cast into the dunk tank by critics and posting a D CinemaScore from audiences — the first comic-book title ever to earn such a low exit-poll grade. — Chris Lee, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2024

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