English edit

Etymology edit

From gloom +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (dark, gloomy).

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

gloomy (comparative gloomier, superlative gloomiest)

  1. Not very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening.
    Synonyms: dusky, dim, clouded; see also Thesaurus:dark
    The cavern was gloomy.
  2. Suffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.
    Synonyms: bleak, dreary, miserable; see also Thesaurus:cheerless
    a gloomy temper or countenance

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Noun edit

gloomy (plural gloomies)

  1. (informal) Someone or something that is gloomy or pessimistic.
    • c. 1946–1947, Hans Keller, edited by Christopher Wintle and Alison Garnham, Music and Psychology: From Vienna to London, 1939–52 (The Hans Keller Archive), London: Plumbago Books, published 2003, →ISBN, page 240:
      A word, finally, on how to go about this publicity business. If it should prove difficult to announce casts in the dailies, or at least in the weekly gloomies, it could surely be arranged that information be available, as soon as the casts are settled, at the opera house in question.
    • 2009, Lawrence R. Samuel, “The Matrix, 1995–”, in Future: A Recent History, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 178–179:
      As well, Russians did not use the confusion of Y2K to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States, as Internet "gloomies" had cautioned, now wagging their online tails in Internet chat rooms as "pollies" (Pollyannas) rubbed salt in their paranoid wounds.
    • 2012, Tetman Callis, High Street: A Memoir: Lawyers, Guns & Money in a Stoner’s New Mexico, San Francisco, Calif.: Outpost 19, →ISBN, page 200:
      He lately sports a look known as "Goth," the most outre aspect of which is, in his case, black nail polish. Really serious Goths, who wear black clothing and spectral makeup, are known as "gloomies," or so Owen tells me. He's not one of them.
    • 2020 May 22, Wynter Rose Thorne, “And Then It Happened …”, in The Passions of Rosie, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN:
      Yikes! I was to be alone with the smacker and my non-smiling sister. After all the joy with my two boys in our family, I was to be left alone with the two gloomies. Well, I guess I will have to find something else to keep me busy.

Translations edit

Further reading edit