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as in sad
feeling unhappiness how can you be glum after such a great day?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word glum different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of glum are crabbed, gloomy, morose, saturnine, sulky, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

When is crabbed a more appropriate choice than glum?

Although the words crabbed and glum have much in common, crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When can gloomy be used instead of glum?

In some situations, the words gloomy and glum are roughly equivalent. However, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

How do morose and glum relate to one another?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When might saturnine be a better fit than glum?

While the synonyms saturnine and glum are close in meaning, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

When is it sensible to use sulky instead of glum?

The words sulky and glum can be used in similar contexts, but sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

When would sullen be a good substitute for glum?

The meanings of sullen and glum largely overlap; however, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When could surly be used to replace glum?

The synonyms surly and glum are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of glum The total number of Champagne shipments from France sank nearly 10% last year to 271 million bottles, marking the second consecutive year of declines as inflation-weary consumers cut back and a generally glum mood permeates across the globe. Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2025 Meanwhile, Apolline and Pablo’s home life isn’t fleshed out beyond a glum impression. J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 10 Jan. 2025 In a bid to counter glum news from the front line, Ukraine seized part of Kursk last August in what was the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II. Illia Novikov, Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2025 Soon, just a few glum flyers remain, watching the same inexplicably unclaimed bags circle the carousel again and again. Roger Dooley, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for glum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for glum
Adjective
  • Even the relatively staid premiere stole a handful of grim chuckles thanks to its guest star’s exceedingly blasé delivery of impossibly bleak news.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 9 Mar. 2025
  • Yet if Mickey’s life is suffocatingly bleak, Mickey 17 is anything but.
    Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Police sad officers began providing aid to Mitchell, but medics later pronounced him dead at the scene.
    Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Oklahoma represents the sad conclusion of the Trail of Tears, and Tulsa serves as the meeting point for tribal nations—the Osage, Muscogee, and Cherokee.
    Nicholas Lalla, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Party leaders asked their members ahead of the address to maintain a dignified and somber presence in the chamber during Trump's speech.
    Barbara Sprunt, NPR, 6 Mar. 2025
  • The mix of Black trauma and White philanthropy created a peculiar vibe in the event space, at once somber and thrilling, mournful and hopeful.
    Nicholas Lalla, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Mass layoffs in the Beltway could force some residents to put their homes up for sale at depressed values, denting the real estate market.
    Matt Egan and Alicia Wallace, CNN, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Examples include formerly depressed but now vibrant cities, such as Pittsburgh, and once stagnant but now relatively successful developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Rwanda.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Cold exposure is particularly helpful for those who have irritable skin through the constriction of blood vessels, alleviating swelling and flushes.
    Lucy Notarantonio, Newsweek, 24 Feb. 2025
  • The elderly single mom, played with an irritable, bone-deep bitterness by Irish actor Fiona Shaw, has spent the past few years paralyzed by an illness no one can diagnose.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Another remembers her lonely childhood with a single mother and resolved it with a partner from a large family and three children.
    Hazlitt, Hazlitt, 5 Mar. 2025
  • This distinction is important: your parent might live alone without feeling isolated, or conversely, feel lonely despite being surrounded by people.
    Carolyn Rosenblatt, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Some are unhappy with the people executing his vision for a smaller government. 2️⃣ Soccer showcase: The 2026 World Cup is still more than a year away, but there are already big concerns over whether the host country is ready.
    Daniel Wine, CNN, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Independent distributors are unhappy with the growing percentage of royalty payments for their artists that are too low to be worth processing.
    Bill Rosenblatt, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Madison, whose full name is Mikaela Madison Rosberg, first rose to fame for the role of a sullen teenager in the FX comedy Better Things.
    Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 3 Mar. 2025
  • Then Chloe pointed out her boyfriend across the room ... revealing none other than a sullen Greg eating at their table, alone.
    Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 17 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Glum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/glum. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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