Synonym Chooser

How is the word morose different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of morose are crabbed, gloomy, glum, saturnine, sulky, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When can crabbed be used instead of morose?

The synonyms crabbed and morose are sometimes interchangeable, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When is gloomy a more appropriate choice than morose?

The meanings of gloomy and morose largely overlap; however, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

In what contexts can glum take the place of morose?

The words glum and morose are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

Where would saturnine be a reasonable alternative to morose?

Although the words saturnine and morose have much in common, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

When is it sensible to use sulky instead of morose?

While the synonyms sulky and morose are close in meaning, sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

When could sullen be used to replace morose?

The words sullen and morose can be used in similar contexts, but sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When might surly be a better fit than morose?

While in some cases nearly identical to morose, surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of morose The swirling, midtempo rocker is classic Cure, with a morose, nearly minute-long instrumental intro that sets up a most on-brand tale of devastating love. Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 10 Oct. 2024 In this family road-trip pic set during the 2008 financial crisis, one disturbing sequence after another is played out on the morose face of John Magaro, who is clearly keeping the truth from them — and us — of what this journey is actually all about. Damon Wise, Deadline, 2 Feb. 2025 The always astonishing Ben Whishaw plays the sweet, morose, gay, chain-smoking, furtively sincere, faraway-eyed Hujar, a veteran freelance photographer who was just coming into his own as a gallery artist and downtown scenester. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Jan. 2025 To subvert whiteness with Blackness as a cultural and psychological lingua franca cannot possibly undo the wounds that molded modern Blackness in the first place, a diasporic concern that places even the most joyous liberation and self-expression in an especially morose context. Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 27 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for morose
Recent Examples of Synonyms for morose
Adjective
  • A lot of emotions — excitement and rejuvenation about joining a new team but also reflective and somber about his tenure in Boston coming to an end.
    Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 10 Mar. 2025
  • The mood at the event was anything but somber, though.
    Kristen Bateman, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • All of these episodes have different types of endings: There’s bleak to total cliffhanger to sentimental.
    Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 11 Apr. 2025
  • Some practical frameworks and strategies enable leaders to maintain stability, foster engagement, and position their teams for success even when the economic outlook appears bleak.
    Kara Dennison, SPHR, CPRW, EC, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • It's often associated with major depressive, bipolar or substance use disorders, report co-author and senior policy director at Healthier Colorado Christina Walker tells us.
    Esteban L. Hernandez, Axios, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Meanwhile, an analysis of more than 185,000 Danish individuals at the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register from 1995 to 2012 found a more than 10 percent rise in depressive episodes following the shift from summertime to standard time.
    William Lambers, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • This Sunday’s finale marks the end of a bizarre, depressing, and sometimes extremely funny show about a family like none other.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2025
  • That’s been really fascinating and depressing and dispiriting to see.
    Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • This keeps us lonely at a time when the loneliness public health crisis is at an all-time high.
    Priya Vulchi, Time, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Ro, now a police officer, needs help investigating the death 22 years earlier of their classmate, Ricky, killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely county road.
    Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • And so by some sociologists, camp is thought to be this form of dark humor serving as a coping mechanism to historical marginalization.
    Sam Reed, Glamour, 15 Apr. 2025
  • Editor’s tip: Niacinamide is a multitasker that blurs the look of dark spots, evens your skin tone, and balances your complexion.
    Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Fourteen years of war have left the country desolate, and its people exhausted; millions have been displaced or were forced to become refugees.
    Raghed Waked & Justin Salhani, The Dial, 25 Mar. 2025
  • That quality is maintained first and foremost by a desolate whistling-wind sound effect in the background of all the scenes, along with a sustained droning musical score.
    Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • There’s something quite whimsical but also quite morbid about it.
    Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle, ARTnews.com, 1 Apr. 2025
  • According to studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health since the 1960s, obesity rates nationwide have tripled, while morbid obesity has increased some 10 times throughout the same period.
    Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Morose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/morose. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

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