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somber
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

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
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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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    At home, a funeral is a somber occasion.  (source)
    somber = sad and solemn (not lighthearted)
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Show 10 more with 7 word variations
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    "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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    My visitor was, indeed, on fire with sombre excitement.  (source)
    sombre = serious--without humor or fun
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somber.
  • •
    Somberly she said, "Thank you, Miguel."  (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.
  • •
    They were eyes that masked the soul with a thousand guises, and that sometimes opened, at rare moments, and allowed it to rush up as though it were about to fare forth nakedly into the world on some wonderful adventure,—eyes that could brood with the hopeless sombreness of leaden skies; that could snap and crackle points of fire like those which sparkle from a whirling sword; that could grow chill as an arctic landscape, and yet again, that could warm and soften and be all a-dance with love-lights, intense and masculine, luring and compelling, which at the same time fascinate and dominate women till they surrender in a gladness of joy and of relief and sacrifice.†  (source)
    sombreness = the quality of being serious and without cheer; or of lacking brightness or color
    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.
  • •
    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)
  • •
    Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.  (source)
    somber = serious (not cheerful or lighthearted)
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    Accordingly, the crowd was sombre and grave.  (source)
    sombre = serious--without humor or fun
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    There, high up on a cliff face, were the sixty-foot-tall faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, carved right into the rock, staring somberly down on us.  (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
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somber as in:  somber colors

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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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    She's hidden her hair under a kerchief, worn a navy blue coat, the closest she could get to sombre.  (source)
    sombre = a dark and gloomy color
    unconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use somber.
  • •
    Two men dressed somberly as the crowds were dressed somberly, moving between the mourners until they met among the mourners and exchanged the words they had to say to each other.  (source)
    somberly = in dark or dull colors
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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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    The day was chill and sombre.  (source)
    sombre = dark and gloomy
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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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