Standard Lemma guide

lugubrious

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/
  • UK: /lʊˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/
  • US: /ləˈɡ(j)u.bɹi.əs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: L UW0 G Y UW1 B R IY0 AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • His client’s lugubrious expression tipped off the detective that something lurked beneath her optimistic words.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dreary, glum, miserable, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, gloomy, grim, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up, damp, dejected, depressed, despondent, disgruntled, disheartened, down, down in the dumps, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, downsome, dull, elegiac, elegious, grief-stricken, grieving, heavy-hearted, heartsore, heartsick, inconsolable, infelicitous, jawfallen, lachrymose, lamentful, low, low-spirited, lumpish, melancholic, moody, mopey, mournful, passionate, plaintive, Plutonian, Plutonic, querulous, ruthful, sad, saddened, shattered, sorrowful, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, threnetic, threnetical, triste, tristful, unconsolable, unlively, wistful, woe, woebegone, wretched

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

excessively mournful

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lūgubris (“mournful; gloomy”), with the suffix -ious.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: мрачен (mračen) — gloomy
  • Bulgarian: печален (pečalen) — gloomy
  • Catalan: llòbrec — gloomy
  • Danish: dyster — gloomy
  • Dutch: luguber — gloomy
  • French: lugubre — gloomy
  • Georgian: ნაღვლიანი (naɣvliani) — gloomy
  • Georgian: სევდიანი (sevdiani) — gloomy
  • Georgian: ჟამი (žami) — gloomy
  • German: düster — gloomy
  • German: kummervoll — gloomy
  • Hungarian: gyászos — gloomy
  • Hungarian: siralmas — gloomy
  • Hungarian: siránkozó — gloomy
  • Hungarian: lugubriózus — gloomy
  • Icelandic: raunamæddur — gloomy
  • Icelandic: hryggðar- — gloomy
  • Icelandic: sorgar- — gloomy
  • Icelandic: sorgbitinn — gloomy
  • Italian: lugubre — gloomy
  • Latin: lūgubris — gloomy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: luguber — gloomy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: luguber — gloomy
  • Portuguese: lúgubre — gloomy
  • Portuguese: lôbrego — gloomy
  • Romanian: lugubru — gloomy
  • Russian: скорбный (skorbnyj) — gloomy
  • Russian: печа́льный (pečálʹnyj) — gloomy
  • Russian: мра́чный (mráčnyj) — gloomy
  • Russian: траурный (traurnyj) — gloomy
  • Serbo-Croatian: sumoran — gloomy
  • Slovak: ponurý — gloomy
  • Slovak: pochmúrny — gloomy
  • Spanish: lúgubre — gloomy
  • Swedish: dyster — gloomy
  • Swedish: luguber — gloomy
  • Ottoman Turkish: آجی (acı) — gloomy
Real reading context

lugubrious in complete knowledge articles