gloomy meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

gloomy

adj

UK /ˈɡluːmi/ · US /ˈɡlumi/

Etymology From gloom + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (“dark, gloomy”).

Not very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening.

Suffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.

a gloomy temper or countenance
The report was slightly gloomier than in June, when unemployment rates eased in more than half of all U.S. states for a third straight month and only five states reported jobless rate increases.2010 August 20, Blake Ellis, “Unemployment rates rise in 14 states”, in CNN Money, archived from the original on 04 Oct 2024:

2 more examples

“The outlook is less gloomy than in our October forecast, and could represent a turning point, with growth bottoming out and inflation declining,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s director of research, wrote in a blog post.2023 January 30, Julia Horowitz, “Global economic outlook slightly ‘less gloomy,’ Europe ekes out growth”, in CNN:
The opposite of an escapist blockbuster, the eighth and apparently final outing for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the doomiest and gloomiest yet in the action-adventure franchise.2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of the summer”, in BBC:

Derived terms: doomy and gloomy, gloomily, gloominess, gloomy goose, gloomy Gus, gloomyish, gloomy octopus, look on the gloomy side, overgloomy, gloomies, ungloomy

noun

Etymology From gloom + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (“dark, gloomy”).

Informal Someone or something that is gloomy or pessimistic.

A word, finally, on how to go about this publicity business. If it should prove difficult to announce casts in the dailies, or at least in the weekly gloomies, it could surely be arranged that information be available, as soon as the casts are settled, at the opera house in question.c. 1946–1947, Hans Keller, edited by Christopher Wintle and Alison Garnham, Music and Psychology: From Vienna to London, 1939–52 (The Hans Keller Archive), London: Plumbago Books, published 2003, →ISBN, page 240:
As well, Russians did not use the confusion of Y2K to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States, as Internet "gloomies" had cautioned, now wagging their online tails in Internet chat rooms as "pollies" (Pollyannas) rubbed salt in their paranoid wounds.2009, Lawrence R. Samuel, “The Matrix, 1995–”, in Future: A Recent History, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 178–179:

2 more examples

He lately sports a look known as "Goth," the most outre aspect of which is, in his case, black nail polish. Really serious Goths, who wear black clothing and spectral makeup, are known as "gloomies," or so Owen tells me. He's not one of them.2012, Tetman Callis, High Street: A Memoir: Lawyers, Guns & Money in a Stoner’s New Mexico, San Francisco, Calif.: Outpost 19, →ISBN, page 200:
Yikes! I was to be alone with the smacker and my non-smiling sister. After all the joy with my two boys in our family, I was to be left alone with the two gloomies. Well, I guess I will have to find something else to keep me busy.2020 May 22, Wynter Rose Thorne, “And Then It Happened …”, in The Passions of Rosie, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN: