macabre

Rarely ma·ca·ber

[muh-kah-bruh, -kahb, -kah-ber]

adjective

1. gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible.

2. of, pertaining to, dealing with, or representing death, especially its grimmer or uglier aspect.

3. of or suggestive of the allegorical dance of death.

macabre

/ -brə, məˈkɑːbə /

adjective

1. gruesome; ghastly; grim

2. resembling or associated with the danse macabre

Other Word Forms

• macabrely adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of macabre¹

First recorded in 1400–50; from French; compare late Middle English Macabrees daunce, from Middle French danse (de) Macabré, of uncertain origin; perhaps to be identified with Medieval Latin chorēa Machabaeōrum a representation of the deaths of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, but evidence is lacking; the French pronunciation with mute e is a misreading of the Middle French forms

Word History and Origins

Origin of macabre¹

C15: from Old French danse macabre dance of death, probably from macabé relating to the Maccabees, who were associated with death because of the doctrines and prayers for the dead in II Macc. (12:43–46)

Example Sentences

What “The Trouble With Harry” needed, Herrmann wrote, was “a musical portrait of Hitchcock . . . gay, funny, macabre, tender and with an abundance of his sardonic wit.”

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Israel accused Hamas of a macabre manipulation that violated the terms of the cease-fire.

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Murphy and Brennan’s purported point in making this third chapter of “Monster” is to drive home how central Gein’s macabre case is to the horror genre.

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After his unexpected shift into the macabre, when he "saw something terrible, I saw pound signs".

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It’s a rather macabre “game,” but as Vice noted, tales of apples and women, especially within the religious sphere, haven’t been “entirely uplifting.”

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Related Words

• frightening www.thesaurus.com
• ghastly 
• ghoulish 
• grim 
• grisly 
• gruesome 
• lurid 
• morbid 
• spooky 
• weird