Standard Lemma guide

tenebrous

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɛn.ɪ.bɹəs/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɛn.ə.bɹəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈtɛn.ə.bɹəs/
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH1 N AH0 B R AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Dark and gloomy; obscure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: also, figuratively, literary

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blear, caliginous, cimmerian, crepuscular, dark, darksome, darkling, dim, dimpsy, dingy, dull, dusky, fuliginous, gloomy, infernal, leaden, lightless, mirksome, murky, murksome, obscure, shady, somber, sombrous, stygian, sunless, swarthy, tenebrose, tenebrous, twilightish, umbrageous, unilluminated

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

dark and gloomy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a tenebrous cave

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tenebrific, tenebrious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

] From Middle English tenebrose, from Anglo-Norman tenebrous (earlier tenebrus), from Latin tenebrōsus, itself from tenebrae (“darkness, shadows”).

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: մռայլ (mṙayl) — dark and gloomy
  • Armenian: մթին (mtʻin) — dark and gloomy
  • Armenian: խավար (xavar) — dark and gloomy
  • Bulgarian: мрачен (mračen) — dark and gloomy
  • Bulgarian: сенчест (senčest) — dark and gloomy
  • Catalan: tenebrós — dark and gloomy
  • Esperanto: tenebra — dark and gloomy
  • French: ténébreux — dark and gloomy
  • French: obscur — dark and gloomy
  • German: düster — dark and gloomy
  • German: Schatten- — dark and gloomy
  • Hungarian: komor — dark and gloomy
  • Ido: tenebroza — dark and gloomy
  • Italian: tenebroso — dark and gloomy
  • Latin: tenebrōsus — dark and gloomy
  • Polish: ciemny — dark and gloomy
  • Polish: ponury — dark and gloomy
  • Portuguese: tenebroso — dark and gloomy
  • Portuguese: trevoso — dark and gloomy
  • Romanian: tenebros — dark and gloomy
  • Romanian: întunecat — dark and gloomy
  • Russian: мра́чный (mráčnyj) — dark and gloomy
  • Russian: тёмный (tjómnyj) — dark and gloomy
  • Spanish: tenebroso — dark and gloomy