lugubrious

[ loo-goo-bree-uhs, -gyoo- ]

adjective

1. mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner:

   lugubrious songs of lost love.

   Synonyms: melancholy, sorrowful

   Antonyms: cheerful

lugubrious

/ lʊˈɡuːbrɪəs /

adjective

1. excessively mournful; doleful

Derived Forms

• luˈgubriously, adverb
• luˈgubriousness, noun

Other Words From

• lu·gubri·ous·ly adverb
• lu·gubri·ous·ness lu·gu·bri·os·i·ty [l, uh, -goo-bree-, os, -i-tee, -gyoo-], noun
• nonlu·gubri·ous adjective
• nonlu·gubri·ous·ly adverb
• nonlu·gubri·ous·ness noun
• unlu·gubri·ous adjective
• unlu·gubri·ous·ly adverb
• unlu·gubri·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lugubrious¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin lūgubri(s) “mournful” (akin to lūgēre “to mourn”) + -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of lugubrious¹

C17: from Latin lūgubris mournful, from lūgēre to grieve

Example Sentences

With all the lugubrious handwringing over Biden and the Democrats saying Trump is a threat to democracy, nobody seems to care that his instinct in that horrible moment was to incite more violence.

From Salon

At once lugubrious and nutty, depressing and daring, “The Attachment Diaries” unfolds, for the first hour or so, in the softest black and white.

From New York Times

The mayor, 43, recalled visiting the pyramid as a schoolboy soon after it opened in 1988 as a lugubrious memorial to Mr. Hoxha.

From New York Times

The result isn’t lugubrious on the album, and it isn’t in performance, either.

From New York Times

At a lugubrious black-tie dinner preceding the event, I sat next to a former MP who asked me two questions I had never been asked before in succession.

From Salon

Related Words

• bleak
• mournful
• sorrowful