gloom
Pervading somber mood
Gloom is darkness or dimness—the absence of adequate light: the gloom of a winter afternoon, eyes adjusting to the gloom.
The word extends naturally to emotional darkness: a mood of sadness, pessimism, or despair.
Gloom settled over the household after the news.
To gloom is to look or feel sullen, though the verb is rare.
The adjective gloomy covers both senses: a gloomy basement, a gloomy outlook.
Subdued, lasting sadness
- despairTotal absence of hope
- dejectionState of lowness
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
- despondencyProfound loss of hope
sadness · depression · hopelessness · misery · woe · doldrums · heaviness · bleakness
Light blocked by object
- dimnessInsufficient illumination
- murkThick atmospheric darkness
- obscurityState of being unknown
- duskDimming after sundown
twilight · shade · penumbra · blackness · pitch-black · darkness · lightless · tenebrous
State of dispiriting dullness
- bleaknessQuality of being dreary
- somberGravely serious in mood
- dismalDepressingly dark or dull
- cheerlessDevoid of mirth
joyless · oppressive · funereal · sepulchral · forlorn · desolate · forbidding · inhospitable
Suggesting something bad approaches
- menacingConveying threat or danger
- threateningExpressing intent to harm
- portentousOminously significant
- sinisterThreateningly suggestive of harm
brooding · looming · dread · apprehension · unease · premonition · warning · impending
melancholy
Subdued, lasting sadness
despondency · sadness · depression · hopelessness · misery · woe · doldrums · heaviness · bleakness · desolation
shadow
Light blocked by object
dusk · twilight · shade · penumbra · blackness · pitch-black · darkness · lightless · tenebrous · crepuscular
dreariness
State of dispiriting dullness
cheerless · joyless · oppressive · funereal · sepulchral · forlorn · desolate · forbidding · inhospitable · austere
ominous
Suggesting something bad approaches
- menacingConveying threat or danger
- threateningExpressing intent to harm
- portentousOminously significant
sinister · brooding · looming · dread · apprehension · unease · premonition · warning · impending · dark
- feelingsemotion, feeling, pleasure, joy, anger
- nighttimemidnight, nightfall, night sky, nighttime, starry sky
- bad feelingssadness, anger, fear, grief, sorrow
- bad attitudesnegativity, cynicism, pessimism, hostility, contempt
- desolationbleakness, barrenness, emptiness, wasteland, desolation
- despairdespair, hopelessness, desolation, despondency, dejection
gloombrightness
Degree of light emitted
light · radiance · brilliance · luminosity · sunshine
gloomcheerfulness
State of bright spirits
cheer · brightness · liveliness · gaiety · warmth
- doom and gloomPersistent negative outlook
- gloom and doomPervasive negative expectation
- gathering gloom
- Gloomy GusHabitually melancholy person
- June gloomCoastal cloud cover, late spring