Cimmerian

1 of 2

adjective

Cim·​me·​ri·​an sə-ˈmir-ē-ən 

: very dark or gloomy

under ebon shades … in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell

—John Milton

Cimmerian

2 of 2

noun

: any of a mythical people described by Homer as dwelling in a remote realm of mist and gloom

Synonyms

Adjective

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• cloudy
• cold
• comfortless
• dark
• darkening
• depressing
• depressive
• desolate
• dire
• disconsolate
• dismal
• drear
• dreary
• dreich [chiefly Scottish]
• elegiac
• elegiacal
• forlorn
• funereal
• gloomy
• glum
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Examples of Cimmerian in a Sentence

Adjective

a wealthy recluse who lived in Cimmerian isolation in a decaying Victorian mansion

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Latin Cimmerii, a mythical people, from Greek Kimmerioi

First Known Use

Adjective

1580, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1584, in the meaning defined above