as in depressive
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
the men awaiting interrogation by the police shared a saturnine silence
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Recent Examples of saturnine
Charli xcx is an awesome dance-pop star, a saturnine goddess who has the world in her hand.
—
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 24 Jan. 2026
At the juncture between postwar noir and golden-age melodrama is Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a saturnine elegy to a lost Hollywood of the silent era, when faces and charisma were more desirable than voices or talent.
—Erik Morse, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2025
The mood is too saturnine, the occasional nods to social criticism too stilted.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2022
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 24 Jan. 2026
At the juncture between postwar noir and golden-age melodrama is Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a saturnine elegy to a lost Hollywood of the silent era, when faces and charisma were more desirable than voices or talent.
—Erik Morse, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2025
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
-
People who, like Isaacson, have had depression lasting two or more years or at least two depressive episodes are far more likely to have additional ones, research shows.—
The New York Times News Service Syndicate,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Jan. 2026
-
In that shift, the antipsychotic drug took me into a really deep depressive episode.—
Anna Peele,
Vanity Fair,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Tautly written, this first novel by a former criminal lawyer who spent 17 years in the Arctic is a hard look at the desolate lives of people resigned to life in the bleak far north.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Both Bird and Clausen play this mounting nightmare with the appropriate ache and desperation, elevating the emotional tenor of Chiarella’s sad, frequently bleak film.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The mood was somber, glowing, and peaceful.—
Ed Bok Lee,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
-
The city is home to Museum Island – a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring five world-class museums – and to historical sites like the Berlin Wall and the Holocaust Museum, which are somber yet must-visit places.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Jim is the only one standing still, staring straight at the camera with his intense, dark-blue eyes.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Small described the shooter as a male who was wearing dark clothing and black and white shoes.—
Tom Ignudo,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Interestingly, the clip of the penguin proved something of a Rorschach test, with some viewing the creature as a lonely outcast, and others interpreting the penguin’s journey as a quest for adventure.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
-
One of Hardy's victims, who went only by the pseudonym Melanie, told The Guardian that in school, Hardy was a target for bullies and seemed lonely.—
Jessica Sager,
PEOPLE,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Winter can be gloomy, dreary, and depressing.—
Kari Leibowitz,
CNBC,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Suggesting that Hallam was trying to make a name for himself was a depressing line for Guardiola to attack.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The new film Leviticus, from director Adrian Chiarella, is a solemn and frightening acknowledgment of that reality, albeit one allegorized into supernatural horror.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Longitudinal documentaries — shot over many years and following their subjects over wide swaths of their lives — sometimes have a tendency to totalize, almost as if their scope justifies and perhaps demands a solemn, all-encompassing thesis.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Gibney illustrates that state of waiting, of staving off what at that time appears to be the inevitable, with the famous sequence from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, in which Max von Sydow’s medieval knight plays chess with Death on a desolate beach.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Jan. 2026
-
Tautly written, this first novel by a former criminal lawyer who spent 17 years in the Arctic is a hard look at the desolate lives of people resigned to life in the bleak far north.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
24 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Saturnine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/saturnine. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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