Synonym Chooser

How is the word saturnine different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of saturnine are crabbed, gloomy, glum, morose, sulky, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

When is crabbed a more appropriate choice than saturnine?

The synonyms crabbed and saturnine are sometimes interchangeable, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

In what contexts can gloomy take the place of saturnine?

The words gloomy and saturnine are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

When can glum be used instead of saturnine?

While the synonyms glum and saturnine are close in meaning, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

How do morose and glum relate to one another, in the sense of saturnine?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When could sulky be used to replace saturnine?

In some situations, the words sulky and saturnine are roughly equivalent. However, sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

When would sullen be a good substitute for saturnine?

Although the words sullen and saturnine have much in common, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

Where would surly be a reasonable alternative to saturnine?

The words surly and saturnine can be used in similar contexts, 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 saturnine The mood is too saturnine, the occasional nods to social criticism too stilted. Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for saturnine
Adjective
  • Chapple, the late Queen’s beekeeper, went first to Clarence House and then Buckingham Palace to perform his somber duty of telling the bees, a centuries-old custom of informing the bees when their owner has died.
    Elizabeth Bass Parman, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • News voices in the 1970's tended to be somber, accent-less, and almost exclusively male.
    Scott Simon, NPR, 6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • In women at risk of postpartum depression, changes in peripartum levels of the neurosteroid have been associated with depressive symptoms.
    Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
  • It is largely characterized by manic episodes (periods of elation and hyperactivity), which are then followed by depressive episodes (sadness and depression).
    Cara Lynn Shultz, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Matters only got more bleak in the sixth, when Rushing fouled a ball off his right shin, smoking a ball right above where his guard ended and immediately going down in pain.
    Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025
  • The one constant is the unhappy couple’s bleak surroundings.
    Adam Solomons, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Kraus also had a dark backpack on her person.
    Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Lakshmi shared a photo and video of herself at the beach wearing a dark pink bikini while playing in the water.
    Angel Saunders, People.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Tour can be lonely, even when you’re surrounded by people.
    Kim Gordon, Rolling Stone, 3 Sep. 2025
  • But without the necessary business acumen in their teams, these technology leaders fight lonely battles.
    Alex Brueckmann, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Compelling, sure, but more depressing than funny.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
  • The news is depressing, and now the Tribune is ignoring what is, for those who are not sports fans, their leading form of entertainment.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Silksong is steeped in religious imagery — desolate chapels, ringing church bells, even rosary beads that act as in-game currency.
    Keller Gordon, NPR, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Her haunting soprano ranged from desolate whispers to expansive belts.
    Audrey Gibbs, Nashville Tennessean, 3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Instead of those memories, survivors are left with the morbid archives of loss.
    Seema Jilani August 29, Literary Hub, 29 Aug. 2025
  • There are visual gags — case files scattered around jigsaw puzzle pieces, conversations about blood loss interrupted by Sudoku solving — that insist on finding humor in a pair of old folks taking such morbid extracurricular activities so seriously.
    Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Saturnine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/saturnine. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!