macabre

CEFRC2

/ˌməˈkɑː.bɹə/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Connected with death in a disturbing or frightening way.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.

Examples

  • How can you watch such macabre movies without having nightmares?

  • The pile of bodies under the bridge was such a macabre sight.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
4

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Obsessed with death or the gruesome.

  2. Representing or personifying death.

More examples

In context

  • Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.

  • The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

Synonyms

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Nearby

Origin

adjective

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain. Possibly from the term danse macabre, most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum. Another theory derives the French term (through Spanish macabro) from Arabic مَقَابِر (maqābir, “cemeteries”), plural of مَقْبَرَة (maqbara) or مَقْبُرَة (maqbura).