morose

adjective

mo·​rose mə-ˈrōs 

mȯ-

1

: having a sullen and gloomy disposition

2

: marked by or expressive of gloom

morosely adverb

moroseness noun

morosity

mə-ˈrä-sə-tē 

mȯ-

noun

Synonyms

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• Cimmerian
• 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
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Choose the Right Synonym for morose

sullen, glum, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed, saturnine, gloomy mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood.

sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

Examples of morose in a Sentence

She thought of the bootlegger at home—a raddled, skinny old man, morose and suspicious. He sat on his front step with a shotgun on Halloween night. —Alice Munro, Runaway, 2004

We have little finished footage to go by, but enough to give us pause: an exquisite clip of Rochefort, sitting with a book in the half-darkness, his eyes wet, gleaming, and morose. —Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 3 Feb. 2003

I have never known if Momma sent for us, or if the St. Louis family just got fed up with my grim presence. There is nothing more appalling than a constantly morose child. —Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969

He became morose and withdrawn and would not talk to anyone.

those morose job seekers who have grown accustomed to rejection

Recent Examples on the Web

The flamboyant conceptual artist is talking to her stepdaughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), who’s grown from the morose teenager of Beetlejuice (1988) into the middle-aged star of a hokey ghost-hunting reality show. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2024

Amelio uses the surging epidemic to bring all three protagonists together again, shifting locations to a morose quarantine facility where Giulio has basically been sentenced to die. —Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2024

Leno joked that the title was too morose for a Christmas gift, and moved on. —Liam Rappleye, Detroit Free Press, 16 Aug. 2024

Fame, climate anxiety, choosing a car seat: What’s next for these morose protagonists? —Annie Berke, Washington Post, 16 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin morosus, literally, capricious, from mor-, mos will

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

morose

adjective

mo·​rose mə-ˈrōs 

mȯ-

: sullen sense 1a, gloomy

morosely adverb

moroseness noun