Sample Sentences for
somber
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

somber as in:  a somber mood

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Before she said anything, I knew it was bad news from her somber face.
somber = serious and cheerless
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    She exhibited a somber mood.
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    I am moved by the somber tones of Barber's Adagio for Strings.
    somber = serious and without cheer
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    Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.  (source)
    somber = serious (not cheerful or lighthearted)
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Show 10 more with 7 word variations
  • •
    "Such a beautiful song," Grace Wexler slurred, but the others sat in somber silence.  (source)
    somber = sad or serious--without humor or fun
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    Accordingly, the crowd was sombre and grave.  (source)
    sombre = serious--without humor or fun
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somber.
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    She merely nodded somberly and went away to her little corner in Dad's studio.  (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
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    But talk banished the somberness.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
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    As Gaskill nodded sombrely at Cathy, preparing to leave, I slumped back into the sofa.  (source)
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somberly.
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    There is in this day an obscure interval, from mid-day to four o'clock; the middle portion of this battle is almost indistinct, and participates in the sombreness of the hand-to-hand conflict.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
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    The black brothers had left Castle Black in good spirits, joking and trading tales, but of late the brooding silence of the wood seemed to have sombered them all.†  (source)
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    Calvin's face lit up with hope, and his eyes, which had been somber, regained their usual sparkle.  (source)
    somber = sad or serious--without humor or fun
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    My visitor was, indeed, on fire with sombre excitement.  (source)
    sombre = serious--without humor or fun
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    "Women and children only, sir," he said somberly.  (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
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somber as in:  somber colors

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    This was the period when she painted with somber colors.
    somber = lacking brightness
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    With its archways of brick and its cool, dark climate, the Metropol's wine cellar recalled the somber beauty of a catacomb.  (source)
    somber = dark
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    The Hotel-Dieu dining room is big and somber and full of people talking about U-boats off Gibraltar and the inequities of currency exchange and four-stroke marine diesel engines.  (source)
    somber = gloomy (in color, and/or mood)
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
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    It was somber and shadowed and quiet, save for the Chopin that occasionally drifted through Paul Rousseau's open door.  (source)
    somber = lacking brightness or color
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    The pines are not tall or luxuriant, but they are sombre and add an air of severity to the scene.  (source)
    sombre = dark and gloomy
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somber.
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    High up on the plateau at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she saw rolling red hills wherever she looked, with huge outcroppings of the underlying granite and gaunt pines towering somberly everywhere.  (source)
    somberly = darkly (lacking brightness)
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    …in a frock coat and a flowered waistcoat and a hat which would have created no furore on a Paris boulevard, all of which he was to wear constantly for the next two years—the sombrely theatric clothing and the expression of fatalistic and amazed determination—  (source)
    sombrely = dark or dull color
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somberly.
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    They both looked so plain and somber compared to Mo Rhodes and her loud-colored pillows and sparkly wall hangings in Oriental designs.  (source)
    somber = dull (lacking brightness or color)
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    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.  (source)
    sombre = dark and gloomy
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    BY MID-SEPTEMBER the tundra plains burned somberly in the subdued glow of russet and umber where the early frosts had touched the ground cover of low shrubbery.  (source)
    somberly = in dark or dull colors
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    The background was somber--almost black.  (source)
    somber = dark
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    Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue, with only that one ornament—the scarlet letter—which it was her doom to wear.  (source)
    sombre = lacking brightness or color
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    He saw the girls come out, dressed somberly, even severely.  (source)
    somberly = plainly in dark or dull color
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