morosely

American  

[muh-rohs-lee] / məˈroʊs li /

adverb

1. in a sullen, gloomy, or ill-humored way.

   Falling silent, the old sailor became quite glum, and seemed morosely unwilling to answer any more questions.

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Other Word Forms

• supermorosely adverb
• unmorosely adverb

Etymology

Origin of morosely

morose + -ly

Explanation

When you do something morosely, you do it in a sullen, moody way. When you sit on the couch, sighing and looking sad because you didn't get invited to your friend's party, you are sitting there morosely. Morose means gloomy or in a bad mood, so whenever the adverb morosely describes your actions, you're not feeling very cheerful. There is an element of crankiness in the word morosely, which you can even see it its Latin root, morosus, which means "peevish." So when you do something morosely, you're not just sad, but you're making sure everyone knows how you're feeling.

Example Sentences

Sal stews morosely amid bursts of threatening belligerence that Sonny tries to tamp down.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Still, throughout the series, one of the recurring visual motifs for this character has been water: Kendall sinking morosely into a bathtub; Kendall falling face down into a pool; and so on.

From New York Times • Apr. 30, 2023

The Rams quarterback looked like a player morosely processing the fallout from three costly turnovers Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2022

At a briefing in the Tri-Cities, doctors were reduced to morosely begging their community to get vaccinated — to no apparent avail.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 31, 2021

When Kaede only stared morosely at the arrow clutched in her hand, he said, “Come inside and eat some breakfast.”

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo

Related Words

• wistfully