gloom Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of partial or total darkness
    sombreness; somberness.
    • he struck a match to dispel the gloom
  2. noun a feeling of melancholy apprehension
    gloominess; sombreness; somberness.
  3. noun an atmosphere of depression and melancholy
    gloominess; glumness.
    • gloom pervaded the office

WordNet


Gloom noun
Etymology
AS. gl&omac;m twilight, from the root of E. glow. See Glow, and cf. Glum, Gloam.
Definitions
  1. Partial or total darkness; thick shade; obscurity; as, the gloom of a forest, or of midnight.
  2. A shady, gloomy, or dark place or grove.
    Before a gloom of stubborn-shafted oaks. Tennyson .
  3. Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.
    A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits. Burke.
  4. In gunpowder manufacture, the drying oven. Syn. -- Darkness; dimness; obscurity; heaviness; dullness; depression; melancholy; dejection; sadness. See Darkness.
Gloom intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Gloomed ; present participle & verbal noun Glooming
Definitions
  1. To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.
  2. To become dark or dim; to be or appear dismal, gloomy, or sad; to come to the evening twilight.
    The black gibbet glooms beside the way. Goldsmith.
    [This weary day] . . . at last I see it gloom. Spenser.
Gloom transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
    A bow window . . . gloomed with limes. Walpole.
    A black yew gloomed the stagnant air. Tennyson.
  2. To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
    Such a mood as that which lately gloomed Your fancy. Tennison.
    What sorrows gloomed that parting day. Goldsmith.

Webster 1913