Gloomy Meaning
/ˈɡluːmi/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening.
adjSuffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.
Sentence Examples
I always feel gloomy.
I got gloomy and thought of giving up.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The weather was ____ with dark clouds covering the sky all day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old, abandoned mansion had a very ____ atmosphere, with its dusty rooms and long shadows.
Word Origin & History
From gloom + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (“dark, gloomy”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The report was slightly gloomier than in June, when unemployment rates eased in more than half of all U.S. states for a third straight month and only five states reported jobless rate increases."
— 2010 August 20, Blake Ellis, “Unemployment rates rise in 14 states”, in CNN Money:
"“The outlook is less gloomy than in our October forecast, and could represent a turning point, with growth bottoming out and inflation declining,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s director of research, wrote in a blog post."
— 2023 January 30, Julia Horowitz, “Global economic outlook slightly ‘less gloomy,’ Europe ekes out growth”, in CNN:
"The opposite of an escapist blockbuster, the eighth and apparently final outing for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the doomiest and gloomiest yet in the action-adventure franchise."
— 2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of the summer”, in BBC:
"A word, finally, on how to go about this publicity business. If it should prove difficult to announce casts in the dailies, or at least in the weekly gloomies, it could surely be arranged that information be available, as soon as the casts are settled, at the opera house in question."
— c. 1946–1947, Hans Keller, edited by Christopher Wintle and Alison Garnham, Music and Psychology: From Vienna to London, 1939–52 (The Hans Keller Archive), London: Plumbago Books, published 2003, →ISBN, page 240:
"As well, Russians did not use the confusion of Y2K to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States, as Internet "gloomies" had cautioned, now wagging their online tails in Internet chat rooms as "pollies" (Pollyannas) rubbed salt in their paranoid wounds."
— 2009, Lawrence R. Samuel, “The Matrix, 1995–”, in Future: A Recent History, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 178–179:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The weather was ____ with dark clouds covering the sky all day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old, abandoned mansion had a very ____ atmosphere, with its dusty rooms and long shadows.