atrabilious
Americanadjective
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gloomy; morose; melancholy; morbid.
-
irritable; bad-tempered; splenetic.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- atrabiliousness noun
Etymology
Origin of atrabilious
1645–55; < Latin ātra bīli ( s ) black bile + -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The one truly successful film of this period is Mike Nichols's version of Edward Albee's , where a middle-aged academic couple tear each other apart in a manner reminiscent of Strindberg at his most atrabilious.
From The Guardian • Mar. 27, 2011
His name, Bernard DeVoto, soon became a synonym for the atrabilious type of crusader who seems perpetually to be throwing a tantrum.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like the hero of the novel, the master is an arrogant and atrabilious young bourgeois who hammers moodily on a grand piano and one day is stricken blind.
From Time Magazine Archive
Lame, lank, atrabilious Charles Grey Grey is a 32nd generation Northumberlander.
From Time Magazine Archive
To be sure they have eyes drunk with dreams, the pointed skull of the mystic, and betray a plentiful lack of chin and often an atrabilious nature.
From Promenades of an Impressionist by Huneker, James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
