sombre

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: som=bre

CIDE DICTIONARY

sombre, a. [F. sombre; cf. Sp. sombra, shade, prob. from LL. subumbrare to put in the shade; L. sub under + umbra shade. See Umbrage.].

•  Dull; dusky; somewhat dark; gloomy; as, a somber forest; a somber house.  [1913 Webster]
•  Melancholy; sad; grave; depressing; as, a somber person; somber reflections.  [1913 Webster]

  "The dinner was silent and somber; happily it was also short."  [1913 Webster]

sombre, v. t. 

 To make somber, or dark; to make shady.  [1913 Webster]

sombre, n. 

 Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sombre, adj. (also US somber)
1 dark, gloomy (a sombre sky).
2 oppressively solemn or sober.
3 dismal, foreboding (a sombre prospect).

Derivative

sombrely adv. sombreness n.

Etymology

F sombre f. OF sombre (n.) ult. f. L SUB- + umbra shade

THESAURUS

sombre

black, bleak, cheerless, dark, darkling, darksome, depressed, depressing, dim, dingy, dismal, doleful, dolorous, dreary, dull, dusky, foreboding, funereal, gloomy, grave, grey, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, joyless, leaden, lowering, lugubrious, melancholic, melancholy, morbid, morose, mournful, murky, overcast, sad, sedate, serious, shadowy, sober, solemn, staid, subfusc, unhappy