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somber
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

somber as in:  a somber mood

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  • She exhibited a somber mood.
  • I am moved by the somber tones of Barber's Adagio for Strings.
    somber = serious and without cheer
  • Her mood was somber; I couldn't understand why she wouldn't look me in the eye.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • Somberly she said, "Thank you, Miguel."   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.   (source)
    somber = serious (not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • The entire community had performed the Ceremony of Loss together, murmuring the name Caleb throughout an entire day, less and less frequently, softer in volume, as the long and somber day went on, so that the little Four seemed to fade away gradually from everyone's consciousness.   (source)
    somber = sad
  • 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)
  • "His mom doesn't want him?"
    Roy saw something flash in her eyes. He wasn't certain if it was sorrow or anger—or both.
    "She doesn't want him?" his mother repeated.
    Roy nodded somberly.   (source)
  • "Such a beautiful song," Grace Wexler slurred, but the others sat in somber silence.   (source)
    somber = sad or serious--without humor or fun
  • From rage on the part of Bernard's closest friends and barely contained mirth among the rest, all became somber.   (source)
    somber = serious and subdued
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show 89 more with this conextual meaning
  • The Count suddenly grew somber.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • She turned downright somber: "I don't think you're doing this for the right reasons."   (source)
    somber = serious and without humor or fun
  • She saw file footage of a jewelry store she didn't recognize, its redbrick exterior surrounded by police and yellow tape, accompanied by the newscaster's somber narration of events.   (source)
    somber = serious or sad
  • At home, a funeral is a somber occasion.   (source)
    somber = sad and solemn (not lighthearted)
  • "I'm not sure there is anything that we can do to block this, given where things are," I told him somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • The first three phone numbers on the list had produced terrifying results—a hysterical widow, a detective working late at a murder scene, and a somber priest consoling a bereaved family.   (source)
    somber = sad or solemn (not lighthearted)
  • No one said much, the mood somber and grim.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • To hear so many of them in a room together confuses and excites Marie-Laure: they are giddy when they should be serious, somber after jokes;   (source)
    somber = without humour or fun
  • 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)
  • 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
  • "Women and children only, sir," he said somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Miss Peregrine nodded somberly.   (source)
  • to sit and wait for our own deaths with proper somber faces   (source)
    somber = serious--without humour or fun
  • "I am sorry to say it, Constance," Mr. Benedict said somberly, "but I did not exaggerate in the least."   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Inside it you can see paintings, of women in long somber dresses, their hair covered by white caps, and of upright men, darkly clothed and unsmiling.   (source)
    somber = lacking brightness or color -- often gray or black
  • The story they had to tell put a somber end to the happy evening.   (source)
    somber = sad or serious--without humor or fun
  • Which is not to say that nothing broke into this strict and somber way of life.   (source)
    somber = serious--without humour or fun
  • In Spanish (he sauntered in well after class started, missing the awkward scene where everyone crowded somberly around my desk to say they were sorry) he didn't sit by me as usual but up front, slouched down with his legs thrown out to the side.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Oh, may these somber words not come true for as long as possible.   (source)
    somber = sad
  • "There is our whole world," Roran observed somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • The tall man shook his head somberly.   (source)
  • Idris nodded somberly.   (source)
  • The technician looked at me somberly.   (source)
  • Until you see his eyes you think he's somber, even mean, but he has the most thoughtful and gentle brown eyes.   (source)
    somber = very serious--without humor or fun
  • Danny asked somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Nadia hefted two laptop computers in their carrying cases and her floor's flat-screen TV, but in the end she did not take the TV because it would have been difficult to load onto her motorcycle, and passed it instead to a somber-faced colleague who thanked her politely.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • Broke another of her ribs, he told me somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • In a New Zealand television interview following the expedition, Hall somberly described how he took their favorite climbing rope and lowered Ball's body into the depths of the glacier.   (source)
  • I was especially glad to see Deino meet my gaze steadily and nod somberly—maybe she wasn't so "terrible" after all.   (source)
  • "I came as soon as I could," the vampire said somberly, turning my head gently to the left and right, examining the damage.   (source)
  • "You'll have to go with him," Mr. Newman said somberly, and nodded toward the guard who had taken hold of my wrist.   (source)
  • He looked down at her somberly.   (source)
  • Ismael Munoz, dark and somber, watching people come aboard.   (source)
    somber = serious--not cheerful or lighthearted
  • He nodded somberly, just as he had earlier in the car.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • "I guess we do have to go back again, don't we?" McWatt had said somberly over the intercom.   (source)
  • "The vyes couldn't have gotten to the orchard," Max said somberly.   (source)
  • "Yeah, just awful," Jake said somberly.   (source)
  • The people seated there nod their heads somberly as he speaks, appreciative just to be in the room.   (source)
  • Somberly, they marched in, looking neither right nor left.   (source)
  • He somberly predicted large casualties, a hard fight.   (source)
  • "There has been far too much dying in these hills," Sadhar Khan said, somberly.   (source)
  • "And to you, Wulfgar," Drizzt replied somberly.   (source)
  • He sounded unhappy, and there was a somber look on his face.   (source)
    somber = serious (without humour or fun--perhaps sad)
  • The Peruvians seemed to accept this, if somewhat somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • He paused somberly.   (source)
  • And finally, at age seventy, having distinguished himself as a brilliant Secretary of State, an independent President and an eloquent member of Congress, he was to record somberly that his "whole life has been a succession of disappointments."   (source)
  • "I was awake," he said somberly.   (source)
  • Finally he turned to his men and regarded them somberly.   (source)
  • …a love-sick columnist, who alone was silent, gloating somberly on the only woman of the party; a woman they called "Grizel," a knowing rake whom, in their hearts, they all feared a little.   (source)
  • They give us too little, said Msimangu somberly.   (source)
  • And she answered him flatly and somberly, "Every day was I beaten."   (source)
  • Mallinson, who had been somberly enduring these pleasantries, now interposed with something of the shrill acerbity of the barrack square.   (source)
  • Heit's heavy eyes glowed somberly.   (source)
  • He turned somberly toward her, and she cried: "I'm so frightened and so lonely!"   (source)
  • Straight, somber and impersonal, he entered the actress's room and stood waiting.   (source)
    somber = serious--without humour or fun
  • Marija sat for a minute or two, brooding somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • His working, fiercely malignant visage as suddenly set somberly.   (source)
  • On one small table tea things and supper dishes stood in disorder, and in the middle of the night a motley throng of people sat there, not merrymaking, but somberly whispering, and betraying by every word and movement that they none of them forgot what was happening and what was about to happen in the bedroom.   (source)
  • "I'll come alone," Bellamy replied somberly.   (source)
  • With a somber look, the chef shook his head.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • I drove back to the motel in a more somber mood to start preparing for the last day of hearings.   (source)
  • "Maybe not," Reynie said somberly, "but if we don't stop him now, he'll never be stopped."   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • "Brothers," Aro said somberly, "there is much to consider here."   (source)
  • "God, I better slow down," said Boris somberly.   (source)
  • That night dinner proved to be a somber affair, and it had nothing to do with the food.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • For the most part it was a somber group that straggled back to their neglected chores.   (source)
    somber = unhappy--without humor or fun
  • Calvin looked somber; then his enormous smile lit up his face again.   (source)
    somber = sad or serious--without humor or fun
  • He reached inside his vest and somberly pulled out a battered piece of parchment.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • "No, Harry, I don't," said Dumbledore, though his face was somber again.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • "There is our whole world," Roran observed somberly.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Newt looked at him, his face suddenly somber.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • I somberly turned around and returned to my group of friends.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • That said, Boris added somberly—blue movie light glinting off the teaspoon—I am alcoholic.   (source)
  • A somber mood rested over the Glade, an easy thing to happen when all is gray.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • The mood hanging over the Gladers as they ate couldn't have been more somber or sodden with fear.   (source)
  • Astaroth walked somberly to the pile of scarlet silk and thrust his hand within it.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • "It looks better than it is," she says somberly.   (source)
  • "Walt must have been keeping quiet about the pain for a long while now," Ian added somberly.   (source)
  • "Z, you're going to need to let go of Stevie Rae now," Erik said somberly.   (source)
  • "Nay," replied Cassius somberly, painfully aware of his greater responsibilities.   (source)
  • "Wedding clothes," she said somberly, "the wedding clothes from Saks that Nathan bought me."   (source)
  • I nodded somberly.   (source)
  • "Yes, sir," Hallorann said somberly.   (source)
  • He nodded somberly.   (source)
  • There was another noise to attend to now, a deep grumbling noise, as though the forest itself were angry with him, a somber noise across which the ululations were scribbled excruciatingly as on slate.   (source)
    somber = solemn (serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • It was a somber evening all around.   (source)
    somber = serious (without cheer or lightheartedness)
  • Roger, sitting on the very edge of the cliff, looked somberly back at the island as he worked with his fingers at a loose tooth.   (source)
    somberly = solemnly (in a manner that is serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • The day went by like any other, filled with work, and Kit said nothing, ashamed that in this somber household she should even remember a happy English yuletide.   (source)
    somber = solemn (serious--not cheerful or lighthearted)
  • Wil nodded somberly.   (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
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
  • 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
  • He saw the girls come out, dressed somberly, even severely.   (source)
    somberly = plainly in dark or dull color
  • 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)
  • The background was somber--almost black.   (source)
    somber = dark
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show 9 more with this conextual meaning
  • It was a vast room, four or five times the size of the director's suite at King Saul Boulevard, and decorated with somber curtains, overstuffed chairs and couches, lustrous Persian carpets, and expensive trinkets that had been bestowed on Fareed by admiring spies and politicians around the world.   (source)
    somber = lacking brightness or color
  • 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.
  • …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.
  • 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
  • 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)
  • 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
  • The day was chill and sombre.   (source)
    sombre = dark and gloomy
  • Throwing his eyes anxiously in the direction of the voice, he indistinctly beheld a form under the trees, clad in garments so sombre, and so little relieved from the gray twilight into which the clouded sky and the heavy foliage had darkened the noontide, that he knew not whether it were a woman or a shadow.   (source)
    sombre = lacking brightness or color
  • CHARLEY and BERNARD, somberly dressed, appear and knock on the kitchen door.   (source)
    somberly = in dark, cheerless colors
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • Lonna arrived at the church towing a somber, bony-shouldered boy with sun-bleached hair and a deep tan.†   (source)
  • He was suddenly somber.†   (source)
  • To cap it all, Professor McGonagall summoned Harry into her office, with such a somber expression on her face Harry thought someone must have died.†   (source)
  • Their meal had been quiet and somber, the talk drifting toward what the Rat Man had said about the Variables and how their responses to them were all that mattered.†   (source)
  • Bonaventure at night was a vast and somber place, nothing like the friendly little graveyard in Beaufort where Dr. Buzzard was buried and where boys played basketball on a floodlit court a hundred yards away.†   (source)
  • He looked at her closely, with an intimacy and seriousness that did not seem to embarrass him—this somber man—then tucked a strand of blond hair in behind her ear.†   (source)
  • But before anyone could say anything else, the somber-sounding pipe organ filled the room.†   (source)
  • Whatever had been her actual experience with the black boatman from Tortola, the encounter had lent to Hester's recklessly blooming young womanhood a measure of restraint that women gain from only the most tragic entanglements with love; in addition to her dark and primitive beauty, and a substantial loss of weight that drew one's attention to her full, imposing bosom and to the hardness of the bones in her somber face, Hester now held herself back just enough to make her dangerousness both more subtle and more absolute.†   (source)
  • Somber children stood in line for pony rides.†   (source)
  • Maybe it was my imagination, but the breeze-blown topiary creatures seemed to wave at us, too, with Adam nodding a somber farewell.†   (source)
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show 190 more examples with any meaning
  • The fire in the hearth gave a somber orange cast to his skin and put deep shadows in the hollows of his eyes.†   (source)
  • When Kohler finally spoke, his voice was somber.†   (source)
  • And then my mother became somber again.†   (source)
  • Straight-backed and severe, revolvers strapped to their belts, they moved with tranquil authority through the mass of somber battle dress and grimy faces, looking from side to side as if conducting a count.†   (source)
  • On Rahel's heart Pappachi's moth snapped open its somber wings.†   (source)
  • In somber tones a newscaster reported the sketchy details that were available.†   (source)
  • "She wasn't like that," said Jose, still shaking his head —big head movements, like a somber child saying no.†   (source)
  • They were all headquartered in downtown Manhattan, in and around Wall Street, in somber, granite-faced buildings.†   (source)
  • Then the real Shawna appeared on-screen, tanned and sculpted and somber as Ellen introduced her to America.†   (source)
  • A somber expression disturbed her previously smooth features.†   (source)
  • Martha was a poet, with the poet's sensibilities, and her feet would be brown and bare, the toenails unpainted, the eyes chilly and somber like the ocean in March, and though it was painful, he wondered who had been with her that afternoon.†   (source)
  • In front of us stood a little church, the sort of ancient building you often find in London—a somber bit of medieval stone wedged between a Caffe Nero and a chemist's shop with neon signs offering selected hair products 3 for £1.†   (source)
  • "We found her," exclaimed Emil, his face lighting up, then turning somber as he realized what he had implied.†   (source)
  • I found their somber eyes irritating.†   (source)
  • They are silent, but not somber—they smile at the Amity they pass, inclining their heads, a few of them stopping to exchange pleasantries.†   (source)
  • She's bouncing up and down on the stage and clapping along with the crowd, forgetting all about the somber poem she just performed.†   (source)
  • I tried to picture the tall, somber master angry and failed.†   (source)
  • It was somber because of the occasion—a simple black robe bearing a crest—but its pattern of green and gold grasses sweeping around the hem was so rich-looking, I found myself imagining how astounded the wives and daughters of the fishermen back in Yoroido would be to see such a thing.†   (source)
  • What music is in your CD player right now?" he asked, his face as somber as if he'd asked for a murder confession.†   (source)
  • The atmosphere is somber, vaguely abandoned, as the streets had been.†   (source)
  • with a somber, perplexed expression.†   (source)
  • I was an usher in the wedding, and as I marched down the aisle wearing a black tuxedo and a white yarmulke, behind six Jewish musicians who played the traditional Israeli folk song "Erev Shel Shoshanim," I felt somber, moved, and proud.†   (source)
  • My aura is rarer than yours, Josh deliberately teased his sister to break the somber mood.†   (source)
  • Marian looked at us, suddenly somber.†   (source)
  • An official-looking man in a somber black coat had stepped out of a building across the street and was striding toward our little group, walking stick in hand.†   (source)
  • But in our household it passed as a bizarre somber holiday, for on each of those five days the village chief of Kilanga, Tata Ndu, came to our house.†   (source)
  • Hallorann struggled hard to keep his somber expression.†   (source)
  • Alberto looked down at Sophie with a somber expression.†   (source)
  • I did not need the luxury anymore than I had needed it before, but I found myself enthralled with the new flood of art and craft and design, could stare at the intricate pattern of the carpets for hours, or watch the gleam of the lamplight change the somber colors of a Dutch painting.†   (source)
  • The gas lamps were lit in the library, and the polished oak surfaces of the furniture seemed to smolder like somber jewels.†   (source)
  • Marko Ramius watched the coffin roll into the cremation chamber to the somber strain of a classical requiem, wishing that he could pray for Natalia's soul, hoping that Grandmother Hilda had been right, that there was something beyond the steel door and mass of flame.†   (source)
  • We can't heal you at Evergreen, the very somber voiceover said.†   (source)
  • It is extraordinarily somber for the Street, like a parcel that someone forgot to develop.†   (source)
  • He had a very agreeable face, despite his severe, somber demeanor and his frequently sour expression.†   (source)
  • In this way an unknown Florentino Ariza was revealed to her, one possessed of a clear-sightedness that in no way corresponded to the feverish love letters of his youth or to the somber conduct of his entire life.†   (source)
  • Her face went somber and grief edged her voice: "What Liet taught us, we cannot pause an instant in that.†   (source)
  • But that would not be"—she looks around at us slowly, dwelling on each somber face—"Christian.†   (source)
  • Everyone on campus was in a somber mood.†   (source)
  • Quiet and Moody by nature, Ang Dorje seemed especially somber as we sat together watching the sun come up.†   (source)
  • He pushed up on his elbows then, alerted by her somber tone.†   (source)
  • Clouds race across the westering moon, the seasons change in somber montage, going deeper into winter stillness, a landscape of silence and ice.†   (source)
  • Expecting far worse, she almost laughed aloud in relief, but his somber expression restrained her.†   (source)
  • Her somber gaze seems to be expecting some kind of occurrence.†   (source)
  • There was a high stool before Vivaldo's worktable on which Vivaldo teetered now, his coarse, curly black hair hanging forward, his eyes somber, and his mouth turned down.†   (source)
  • If I search the caverns of my mind, I come to a collage of images—somber paintings, a fireplace, and a mantel clock with a heavy key like a small metal bird that fits in my palm.†   (source)
  • She had always been very thin and a bit somber, but she put on a bit of weight and became relaxed, sometimes even vivacious and giggly.†   (source)
  • In our bungalow, the mood was somber.†   (source)
  • They learned that when they were awakened by the somber tones of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" he was on one of his early drunks, and there was no point in asking him to do anything that day—he would yessem you to distraction and just never show up.†   (source)
  • The light was dimming, the road was straight, with neither house nor human being in view-nothing but land winter-stripped and as somber as sheet iron.†   (source)
  • As we had been working together for more than forty years, I knew that tone was reserved for the most serious and somber of circumstances.†   (source)
  • The last colors slowly faded from the western sky, and, as they did, one by one the instruments stopped, until only the bass fiddles, in their somber slow movement, were left to play the night and a single set of silver bells brightened the constellations.†   (source)
  • I returned to the house and found that the giants had grown somber, although the small people were still merry.†   (source)
  • He pauses, waiting for the joyous faces to turn somber, matching his, and in a moment they do.†   (source)
  • Often in the morning when she came down to the lots she would be somber and would stand by the fence for an hour, not saying a word to anyone.†   (source)
  • While smiling to herself and holding fast to the break in somber thoughts, she felt something tickling her foot.†   (source)
  • He turns around slowly, his face somber.†   (source)
  • A frown, an improbable mane, and a somber voice intoningEs muss sein!†   (source)
  • His voice enweaved itself through the somber vapors left by the dirge.†   (source)
  • Wincing, imagining the man's feet being sliced on the shaley rock—"rocks with teeth," as the local people said—he had a somber thought.†   (source)
  • I'm sorry, sir, but just about all the prayers I know are rather somber in tone and make at least some passing reference to God.†   (source)
  • He's happy, but I'm somber.†   (source)
  • He seemed uncharacteristically somber and hesitant.†   (source)
  • His somber expression frightened me.†   (source)
  • In the hall, the four class pictures greet me in all their somber-faced glory.†   (source)
  • This time he was different: somber, apologetic.†   (source)
  • When they finally got around to Seth's cancer, Herschel became somber and even choked back tears.†   (source)
  • Speaking before a host of dignitaries at the Palais de Chaillot, JFK opened his remarks with somber tones as he delivered an apt description of his status in the eyes of Paris and the world.†   (source)
  • I watch him staring down at the jacket, wondering what he's thinking that makes him look so somber.†   (source)
  • Writing years later, he remembered the day as grey and somber.†   (source)
  • When Pipkin had planted in himself, like some somber tree, the knowledge that Hazel would never return, his bewilderment exceeded his grief: and this bewilderment he saw on every side among his companions.†   (source)
  • For the first time since he had entered 221B Baker Street, Bert's face became drawn and somber, and tinged with fear.†   (source)
  • His voice was grave, his eyes somber.†   (source)
  • The crisp and somber notes swept through the mourners and we wept.†   (source)
  • Mr. Cartel waited quietly until the bell rang, then leaned back in his chair and regarded the class with a somber expression.†   (source)
  • A sea of somber faces and shaved heads and robes and those who wanted shaved heads and robes.†   (source)
  • It was a pretty somber ceremony.†   (source)
  • Attolia's throne room was blue and white and gold instead of the more somber red and black and gold of Eddis's.†   (source)
  • The Captain looked so somber, I could almost imagine I was an Egyptian slave taking Pharaoh on a tour of the flooded Nile Delta.†   (source)
  • Little pins of colored light shoot forth to me from a background of somber dark green and black.†   (source)
  • In my mind's eye I continued to see him gazing into his watch, but now he was joined by another figure; a younger figure, myself; become shrewd, suave and dressed not in somber garments (like his old-fashioned ones) but in a dapper suit of rich material, cut fashionably, like those of the men you saw in magazine ads, the junior executive types in Esquire.†   (source)
  • There to greet them were somber headstones and recently abandoned household furniture.]†   (source)
  • First bell was at 6 A.M. We were in the dining hall by 6:40 for a breakfast of dry bread and hot sugar water, watched over by a somber portrait of George VI, the king of England.†   (source)
  • Like the other males, his clothes were neat, somber and well pressed, but there was a difference in that they were better tailored, as though he took considerable pains with his appearance.†   (source)
  • Death of the old was often an occasion of celebration, but today the mood was somber and severe.†   (source)
  • The race caller made the somber announcement and asked the crowd to stand in prayer.†   (source)
  • Adam Selene's by-line appeared first in dignified pages of Moonglow over a somber poem titled: "Home.†   (source)
  • They attack paintings because in every great painting they see the somber flash of God, they see themselves as the truth would have it, and they see all that enrages them for the lack of it.†   (source)
  • Ten hours and three thousand miles later, I returned to Hurlburt Field, in Florida, only to discover my somber mood was no match for that of the base.†   (source)
  • She could not respond in any way, her eyes were somber pools that reflected no light.†   (source)
  • Yellow lamplight glimmered across Lisa's somber face, and shadows swooped up the walls of the Delmanns' kitchen.†   (source)
  • I sat down and he looked at me, his eyes somber behind their steel-rimmed spectacles.†   (source)
  • She pulled Oz along through the trenches of somber suit coats and mourning dresses.†   (source)
  • The courtroom was tense and somber.†   (source)
  • Ruthie was going to be going away to a private high school in the fall, and you could tell by the somber set of her thin flawless face that she would rather have been anywhere except there.†   (source)
  • But returning to a more somber subject.†   (source)
  • She had given her employees the news of the store closing a few days earlier, and the mood on the floor and among the staff was decidedly somber, all the more distinguished from Tommy's brusque, overpleased activity.†   (source)
  • There were bustling tours being given all around, but Norm was somber.†   (source)
  • He had the somber eyes of an assassin in love with a cause.†   (source)
  • Enter Vladimir, somber.†   (source)
  • One morning he was watching in somber fascination as I dissected a particularly pest-ridden old buck.†   (source)
  • But the somber mystery of connection that was like a voodoo offering was gone forever.†   (source)
  • But talk banished the somberness.†   (source)
  • She hid her eyes behind her fingers and bent her head downward toward the table, buried in somber reflection.†   (source)
  • The lighting is low, somber.†   (source)
  • Finally he sprinkled flour on the meat, his fluttering fingers incongruous against his somber death's-head face.†   (source)
  • Lib stood at the porch door, her face somber, beckoning.†   (source)
  • His expression becomes somber.†   (source)
  • "Dark as the inside of a cow, she muttered, almost nosing the somber mirror, "as your grandfather would say.†   (source)
  • His somber sense of responsibility toward his Creator he carried into every phase of his daily life.†   (source)
  • "Speaking of hunting," he began in a somber tone.†   (source)
  • Slughorn hurried over the threshold, several bottles in his arms, and wearing a somber black cravat.†   (source)
  • He married a Seattle woman of Illini stock, corn blond, svelte, and somber eyed.†   (source)
  • She and the white horses gleamed in the somber half light.†   (source)
  • He studied the somber mask of villainy on Piter's effeminate face.†   (source)
  • Back at the inn a great many somber, sooty people were gathering to drink and gossip.†   (source)
  • Despite his haste and his somber mood, Dr. Urbino could not resist the temptation to study it.†   (source)
  • Visitors wore their best clothes and most somber expressions, as if entering a great cathedral.†   (source)
  • He pulled his hand back, his eyes steady and somber on mine.†   (source)
  • Inside, a single bulb cast its somber light.†   (source)
  • Two walls were solid windows, looking out on somber buildings and a patch of sky.†   (source)
  • Ser Meryn Trant stepped into the room, tall and somber in his white armor.†   (source)
  • He wasn't smiling at first — his face was somber.†   (source)
  • And yet, incredibly, the mood in this suite seemed anything but somber.†   (source)
  • As she left the recreational wing, the mood in every single viewing room was dazed and somber.†   (source)
  • She listened to me, her expression somber.†   (source)
  • And," he grew very somber, "if you so wish, you will have the right to be buried with our dead."†   (source)
  • There was something somber in his face, as if he were looking down upon a casket.†   (source)
  • Nevertheless Fermina Daza did not allow him to infect her with his somber mood.†   (source)
  • I wasn't paying attention to my own expression, but something in it made him grow somber.†   (source)
  • She seemed so dark and somber, it made him want to comfort her.†   (source)
  • They closed in on her face, and she became even more somber.†   (source)
  • Then he dismissed the group with a somber salute.†   (source)
  • Richter had so far said nothing, only regarded him with a look of somber understanding.†   (source)
  • His face is set behind a somber nose, broad-bridged and looming.†   (source)
  • They were not boisterous-they were somber, as depressed as any of the faces I'd read this morning.†   (source)
  • Just cold, hard facts, delivered in a somber and even depressing monotone.†   (source)
  • But the Demon's lips never moved; indeed, his face remained composed and somber.†   (source)
  • The mood among the NASA people was all over the place somber, bitter, loose, defensive.†   (source)
  • A somber group of newsmen, spectators, and horsemen quietly parted to let them pass.†   (source)
  • Usually cheerful, he had fallen into a somber mood.†   (source)
  • The conversation took a more somber turn.†   (source)
  • His robes were a somber purple, trimmed with ermine.†   (source)
  • He and Otis exchanged somber looks—one hungry vampire to another.†   (source)
  • June 16, Saturday (a very somber graduation) I went with Tony and Steph to the McFadden graduation.†   (source)
  • Even the Greatjon seemed somber and subdued.†   (source)
  • My father looked at me, his eyes somber.†   (source)
  • The mood in the pavilion became even more somber.†   (source)
  • Takahashi stops at the entrance and looks straight at Mari with an unusually somber expression.†   (source)
  • Ancient, somber redwoods flashed on either side of the narrow ribbon of highway.†   (source)
  • How many sleepless nights had I spent in these somber surroundings?†   (source)
  • He was somber for a time as Saphira took off and flew northeast, toward Uru'baen.†   (source)
  • He looked uncharacteristically somber, his eyes shadowed.†   (source)
  • Theon chose plain boots and plainer clothes, somber shades of black and grey to fit his mood.†   (source)
  • They hired a car to take them back to the village, and they drove back, somber and bitter.†   (source)
  • Somber plodding Ralph slain in something something dusk.†   (source)
  • It was well after midnight, but none of us was tired, and the atmosphere was not at all somber.†   (source)
  • But the air was somber, the conversations all whispered.†   (source)
  • His voice lowered and he read with an accustomed somber respect.†   (source)
  • Gebrew and two somber men stood outside Rosina's door.†   (source)
  • and somber; they would all be better for a little drink and hope.†   (source)
  • Wednesday, January 29, 1986, dawned as cold and somber as my mood.†   (source)
  • He looked at me, his eyes somber, and shook his head.†   (source)
  • Ned was shorter and plainer of face, and so somber.†   (source)
  • The least Henry could do was appear a bit more somber about it.†   (source)
  • Her expression somber, Nasuada walked forward until she stood in the center of the open room.†   (source)
  • I was immediately struck by the drawn and somber look on his face.†   (source)
  • He wore no mask, and his expression was somber.†   (source)
  • The local police officers I passed on the way were somber and quiet.†   (source)
  • Umaroth in particular was somber, but he said, Thank you for bringing me here, Saphira.†   (source)
  • For a moment, Umaroth seemed amused, but when the dragon answered her, his words were somber.†   (source)
  • My friends had assembled again, a far more somber, truculent group than before.†   (source)
  • Somber fifty-cent pieces, heavy enough to weight a dead man's eyes.†   (source)
  • A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber.†   (source)
  • The cigarette burned down, and a wind began to blow out of the somber northern skies.†   (source)
  • You picked up ten demerits and that somber dago you hang out with picked up sixteen.†   (source)
  • As I approached him, I realized I did not know this somber boy at all.†   (source)
  • Ron responded by maintaining an unnaturally somber demeanor in her presence as an outward sign of continuing remorse.†   (source)
  • Assembled around it, seated on hand-tooled pigskin chairs, awaited a somber council of distinguished thirty-third-degree Masons, present to bear witness.†   (source)
  • Eragon was struck by the somber, haunted expressions of the humans and the dark clothing they wore to display their sadness.†   (source)
  • There was a somber graduation ceremony the following week at neighboring Motton Academy, but there were only fifty-two Seniors left to graduate.†   (source)
  • "I don't know who Maxime thinks she's kidding," Harry said, watching Madame Maxime sitting alone at the judges' table, looking very somber.†   (source)
  • He was wearing a somber taffeta suit, a shirt with a round and hard collar, and a thin silk ribbon tied in a bow in place of a necktie.†   (source)
  • I nodded slowly, suddenly somber.†   (source)
  • One night, during the course of a week darkened by somber rumors, he miraculously escaped four revolver shots taken at him by an unknown party as he was leaving a secret meeting.†   (source)
  • It was a stone church, and there was a ground-floor or even underground mustiness to the place, which was overcrowded with dark wood bric-a-brac, somber with dull gold organ pipes, garish with confused configurations of stained glass—through which not a single branch of a tree was visible.†   (source)
  • Most of these somber purple posters carried blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer, but others bore moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters known to be on the loose.†   (source)
  • It was not as somber an occasion as Tobias's and my interrogation, partly because there was no suspicious video footage implicating Zeke, and partly because Zeke is funny even when under truth serum.†   (source)
  • Ajihad paused, his rich eyes somber.†   (source)
  • For a long, somber moment we looked at each other: high chemical frequency, solitude to solitude, like two Tibetan monks on a mountaintop.†   (source)
  • Oh, it's not a somber day, more like a picnic, but it has special meaning to someone looking for grandsons.†   (source)
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