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SOMBRE
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Grave or even gloomy in character
Example:
a somber mood
Synonyms:
melancholy; somber; sombre
Classified under:
Similar:
cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Derivation:
sombreness (a manner that is serious and solemn)
sombreness (a feeling of melancholy apprehension)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking brightness or color; dull
Example:
children in somber brown clothes
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)
Derivation:
sombreness (a state of partial or total darkness)
Context examples:
His dress was quiet and sombre—a black frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch of colour about his necktie.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Some members of their society sent away, and the spirits of many others saddened—it was all sameness and gloom compared with the past—a sombre family party rarely enlivened.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
On several occasions the sled was overturned, and they were compelled to reload it with its sombre freight.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
For weeks it had been a very dull and sombre world; but now, with nearly all debts paid, three dollars jingling in his pocket, and in his mind the consciousness of success, the sun shone bright and warm, and even a rain-squall that soaked unprepared pedestrians seemed a merry happening to him.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He made it clear to Buck that he was to come, and they ran side by side through the sombre twilight, straight up the creek bed, into the gorge from which it issued, and across the bleak divide where it took its rise.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
On the land side our surroundings were as sombre as on the sea.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
For a moment they waited—the German sombre and collected, Sir Nigel quivering in every fibre with eagerness and fiery resolution.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
That evening Mr. Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombre spirits and sat down to dinner without relish.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Why are you so very shy, and so very sombre?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He was dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
