Standard Lemma guide

saturnine

adj · 9 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsætənaɪn/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-nɪn/
  • Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈsætɚˌnaɪn/
  • General-American: /-ˌnin/
  • General-American: [-ɾɚ-]

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a person: having a tendency to be cold and gloomy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: solemn, somber, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up, damp, dejected, depressed, despondent, disgruntled, disconsolate, disheartened, dismal, doleful, dolesome, down, down in the dumps, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, downsome, dull, elegiac, elegious, forlorn, gloomy, glum, grief-stricken, grieving, heavy-hearted, heartsore, heartsick, inconsolable, infelicitous, jawfallen, joyless, lachrymose, lamentful, low, low-spirited, lugubrious, lumpish, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, moody, mopey, morose, mournful, passionate, plaintive, Plutonian, Plutonic, querulous, ruthful, sad, saddened, saturnine, shattered, sombre, sorrowful, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, spiritless, sullen, threnetic, threnetical, triste, tristful, uncheerful, uncheery, unconsolable, unhappy, unlively, wistful, woe, woebegone, woeful, wretched

Antonyms: cheerful, jovial, berserk, blissed out, blithe, buoyant, chirpy, blithesome, bonnie, bright, cheerly, cheery, chuffed, cock-a-hoop, content, contented, convivial, delighted, ebullient, ecstatic, elated, enthusiastic, euphoric, excited, exhilarated, exuberant, exultant, fat and happy, gassed, gay, gayful, giddy, glad, gladsome, gleeful, gleesome, happy, hearty, hyped, high on life, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthsome, on cloud nine, overjoyed, overjoyous, over the moon, pacific, perky, placated, pleased, satisfied, stoked, thrilled, tickled pink, triumphant, vivacious, wealful, happy as a clam, happy as a clam at high water, happy as a lark, happy as a pig in mud, happy as a pig in shit, happy as a prince, happy as Larry, happy as the day is long, merry as a cricket, merry as a grig

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of a setting: depressing, dull, gloomy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dark, grim, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreary, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, gloomy, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, miserable, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful

Antonyms: bright, cheery, pleasant

3

adj

Meaning 3

Synonym of leaden, of or related to the metal lead, associated with the planet Saturn in European alchemy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, comparable

Topics: alchemy, pseudoscience

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: leaden, of or related to the metal lead, associated with the planet Saturn in European alchemy

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Caused or affected by lead poisoning (saturnism).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Saturn; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see sense 1).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, obsolete

Topics: astrology, human-sciences, mysticism, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Belonging to or resembling butterflies of the family Saturnidae.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, entomology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adj

Meaning 7

Of or relating to the ancient Roman god Saturn.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

showing a brooding ill humor- Bruce Bliven

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a dark scowl
  • the proverbially dour New England Puritan
  • a glum, hopeless shrug
  • he sat in moody silence
  • a morose and unsociable manner
  • a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius
  • a sour temper
  • a sullen crowd

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, sour, sullen

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

bitter or scornful- Oscar Wilde

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the face was saturnine and swarthy, and the sensual lips...twisted with disdain

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English saturnine, satournine, satournyne, saturnin, saturnyn, saturnyne (“pertaining to or under the influence of the planet Saturn; line on the palm of the hand associated with Saturn”), from Old French saturnine, saturnin (modern French saturnin (“of, pertaining to, resembling or containing lead, plumbic”)), or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin Sāturnīnus, from Sāturnus (“the Roman god Saturn; the planet Saturn”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); analysable as Saturn + -ine. The English word is cognate with Italian saturnino (“saturnine”), Portuguese saturnino (“melancholy, saturnine; pertaining to the planet Saturn”), Spanish saturnino (“melancholy, saturnine; pertaining to the planet Saturn”). Sense 1 (“having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.”) refers to the fact that individuals born under the astrological influence of the planet Saturn were believed to have that disposition.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: мрачен (mračen) — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Bulgarian: навъсен (navǎsen) — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Dutch: somber — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • German: düster — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Italian: saturnino — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Italian: saturnina — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Norwegian Bokmål: blytung — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tung — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Polish: ponury — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Portuguese: saturnino — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Portuguese: saturnina — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Portuguese: soturno — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Portuguese: soturna — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Russian: мра́чный (mráčnyj) — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Russian: угрю́мый (ugrjúmyj) — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Spanish: saturnino — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Spanish: saturnina — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Spanish: soturno — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Spanish: soturna — of a person: having a tendency to be cold, bitter, gloomy, etc.
  • Bulgarian: оловен (oloven) — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Catalan: saturní — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Catalan: saturnina — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • French: saturnin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • French: saturnine — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Occitan: saturnin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Occitan: adornin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Occitan: sadornin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Occitan: savornin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Picard: saturnin — of or pertaining to lead; containing lead
  • Catalan: saturní — caused by lead poisoning; affected by lead poisoning