somber

Alternative forms

• sombre (UK, often Canada)

Etymology

From French sombre (“shady, gloomy”), from Spanish sombra (“shade, dark part of a picture, also a ghost”), probably from Latin *subumbrare, from sub (“under”) + umbra (“shade”).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɒmbəɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒmbə(ɹ)

Adjective

somber (comparative somberer, superlative somberest)

1. Dark or dreary in character; joyless, and grim.
   • 2002, Dirk Wittenborn, Fierce People:

     My mother prepared herself for the evening with the same somber deliberateness of the gladiators in Spartacus.

2. Dark, lacking color or brightness.

Verb

somber (third-person singular simple present sombers, present participle sombering, simple past and past participle sombered)

1. Alternative form of sombre

References

• somber in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• somber in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• bromes, ombres, sombre

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

somber (comparative somberder, superlative somberst)

1. somber (US), sombre (Commonwealth)