gloomy

Etymology

It is formed from English gloom + -y,^[2][3][4][5] although the noun gloom is not recorded as early as the adjective;^[6][2] the OED therefore suggests it may first have been formed from the verb gloom.^[2] That verb, meaning "to look sullen", is gloumen, recorded from the late 14th century, of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1588 in the sense "dark, full of gloom".^[4] The OED's first quotation is from before 1593, in Marlowe's Edward II, of persons, affected with gloom or depression;^[2] its first for "dark, shaded" is from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1594).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that Shakespeare used the word of woods and Marlowe of persons,^[6] so the literal sense "dark, obscure" and the figurative one "sad, sullen" are both present from the start.^[2][6] In 1632 it was also used of dark, blackish colours, a sense now obsolete.^[2] From 1710 it described things that cause low spirits, dismal or disheartening.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave "obscure; imperfectly illuminated; almost dark" first.^[7] The name Gloomy Gus, for a sullen or pessimistic person, comes from a newspaper comic character of about 1902 by Frederick Burr Opper.^[6] In Leicestershire dialect gloomy meant glowing, burning hot.^[8]

Timeline

• 1588 – dark, full of gloom.^[4]
• before 1593 – of persons, depressed or sullen, in Marlowe.^[2]
• 1594 – dark, shaded, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1632 – of colours, dark, blackish (obsolete).^[2]
• 1710 – causing depression, dismal.^[2]
• 1902 – Gloomy Gus, a sullen person.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dark or dim; shadowy and dismal: a gloomy corridor at the back of the house.^[9][4][2]
2. Feeling or showing low spirits; sad, sullen or despairing.^[9][2][3]
3. Causing depression or dejection; disheartening: gloomy forecasts for the economy.^[9][2][3]

Word family

• gloomily
• gloominess
• overgloomy
• ungloomy
• gloomy Gus

Related words

• gloom

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins