SOMBERLY Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

somberly

adverb

Definition of somberly

as in glumly

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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 somberly James Hoffa, his sister Barbara, their adult children and grandchildren somberly mark this day with each passing year. — Eric Shawn, FOXNews.com, 30 July 2026 Nantz somberly delivered the emotional news while taking several breaks to compose himself. — Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 8 June 2026 The season's penultimate scene finds Carl at his favorite haunt, sipping his morning coffee while somberly staring at his tiny Tom Ruffage diorama figure. — Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 1 June 2026 The race there begins somberly in the museum before runners bound up one flight of stairs into a hallway that leads into the main stairwell; from there, the steps settle into continuous, shallow right turns providing a repetitive, hypnotic cadence. — Michelle Sinclair Colman, Curbed, 7 May 2026 The music came back on, and the men danced somberly to wedding music. — Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 26 Apr. 2026 After a dear friend’s memorial service, the congregation somberly filed down the stairs into the church reception hall. — Anne Byrn, Southern Living, 11 Apr. 2026 Joseph and his supporters were clad in green and white and marched somberly to the election council’s headquarters. — ABC News, 12 Mar. 2026 As a light dusting of snow fell over Minneapolis Sunday morning, community members lit candles, laid fresh flowers and stood somberly around a makeshift vigil at the site of Pretti’s death. — Michael Biesecker, Chicago Tribune, 25 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for somberly

Adverb

If exceeding delivery targets fails to spark a rally, meeting or slightly beating bottom-line earnings will likely be greeted glumly by Wall Street.

— Michael Khouw, CNBC, 20 July 2026
Three of the four arrived soberly dressed, one of them, Hodgkin, in a black suit, folded his arms and stared glumly ahead.

— Robin Muir, Vogue, 12 June 2026

Definition of glumly

Adverb

Museums abhor windows, so the building has all the approachability of a medieval keep, as gloomily defensive as the park is welcoming.

— Justin Davidson, Curbed, 4 June 2026
In Time Regained, the concluding volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, an older version of the narrator gloomily decides to attend a gathering at the Guermantes’ mansion.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026

Definition of gloomily

Adverb

The shattered standing forlornly by the podium at the end of a draining tournament, hearts broken, bodies exhausted, having to watch as the opposition receive the reward that England were agonisingly close to.

— Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 19 July 2026
Adaptations of the Odyssey are always fleshy affairs, with half-naked men lying happily or forlornly on beaches.

— David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026

Definition of forlornly

Adverb

The Vietnam War and Watergate had spawned a paralyzing sense of national distrust, and New Hollywood had reflected that reality beautifully but pessimistically.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 May 2026
For example, professors Morana Koludrovic and Franceska Delija at the University of Split in Croatia also make the point, more pessimistically, however, that the young can no longer learn from the old, not with all the changes in technology and media.

— Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 20 Feb. 2026

Definition of pessimistically

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somberly

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“Somberly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/somberly. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of somberly

adverb

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