sombre

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See also: sombré

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sombre (“dark”), from Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer or Latin sub- +‎ umbra. Compare Spanish sombra (“shade; dark part of a picture; ghost”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sombre (comparative sombrer, superlative sombrest) (British spelling, Canadian spelling)

  1. Dark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit.
    • 2015, Hermann Kauders, Before The Cock Crows, →ISBN, page 9:
      The lady led him into a sombre hallway and disappeared. A moment later the windowless chamber was illuminated by the entry of a heavenly creature emitting a radiance prone to pierce the heart of any youth exposed to it.
  2. Dull or dark in colour or brightness.
    • 1877, The Black Band; or, The Mysteries of Midnight, page 47:
      His tall and slender figure, dressed in sombre black, his hair of that peculiar reddish auburn so rarely seen, his flashing black eyes, in which a fitful fire seemed for ever burning; all combined to give something almost of a demoniac air ...
  3. Melancholic, gloomy, dreary, dismal; grim.
    • 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
      The dinner was silent and sombre; happily it was also short.
    • 1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC:
      It was a wonder that he had not been a victim of the ferocious and summary executions which marked the course of that tyranny; for Guzman had ruled the country with the sombre imbecility of political fanaticism.
    • 2012, Peter Turnbull, Aftermath, Severn House Publishers Ltd, →ISBN:
      A sombre mood, very sombre in fact, thought Hennessey, as he stood against the wall observing the procedure for the police. He had not known a mood more sombre to have previously descended on the room.
  4. Grave; extremely serious.
    a sombre situation

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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sombre (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Gloom; obscurity; duskiness.

Verb

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sombre (third-person singular simple present sombres, present participle sombring, simple past and past participle sombred)

  1. To make sombre or dark; to make shady.

References

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  1. ^ “sombre”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sombre”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French sombre, likely from Latin sub umbra (“in/under the shade”); compare Spanish and Portuguese sombra (“shade, shadow”). Possibly derived through a verb *sombrer, from a Vulgar Latin *subumbrāre (“to shade, enshadow”), though this does not seem necessary. Compare also Old French essombre, with a different prefix.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sombre (plural sombres)

  1. dark
    Synonyms: foncé, obscur
    Antonym: clair
  2. (derogatory) right, damn, bloody
    un sombre crétin ― a prize idiot, a complete idiot, an unspeakable imbecile

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → English: sombre

Verb

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sombre

  1. inflection of sombrer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer (from a Vulgar Latin *subumbrāre), or from Latin sub (“under”) + umbra (“shadow”).

Adjective

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sombre m or f

  1. (Jersey) sombre, dark

Spanish

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Verb

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sombre

  1. inflection of sombrar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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