Meaning & use
macabre
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Disturbing in a way that makes you think of death, decay, or violence, often in a dark or grim manner.
Grammar: Can stand before a noun or after 'be': a macabre story, or the tale was macabre.
Patterns
- macabre details
- something is macabre
Police found a macabre collection of bones in the cellar.
The festival has a macabre parade of skeleton costumes.
She had a macabre sense of humor and joked about her own funeral.
Word forms
| comparative | more macabre |
|---|---|
| superlative | most macabre |
Common combinations
- macabre discovery
- Hikers made a macabre discovery in the woods.
- macabre humor
- His macabre humor made some guests uneasy.
- macabre tale
- The author is known for macabre tales of ghosts and graves.
- macabre details
- The report gave far too many macabre details.
- macabre fascination
- Crowds gathered with a macabre fascination for the old prison.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gruesome
- Gruesome focuses on the shocking sight of injury or death, while macabre adds a dark, almost theatrical interest in death itself.
- morbid
- Morbid describes an unhealthy interest in death, so it often judges a person, whereas macabre usually describes the thing or scene.
- ghastly
- Ghastly is broader and can mean merely awful, but macabre always involves death or horror.
- grisly
- Grisly stresses bloody, horrifying details, while macabre can be quiet and eerie.
Opposites
Word family
- macabrely adverb
- in a way connected with death or horror
- danse macabre noun
- an artistic image of death leading people in a dance
Commonly confused: macabre or macaroon?
macabre vs macaroon
A macaroon is a sweet coconut or almond cookie; it is unrelated to macabre despite the similar start.
Practice
Which situation would most naturally be called macabre?
Choose one answer.
Macabre needs a link with death and dark horror, which the crypt tour provides. The other situations are happy, calm, or merely boring.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “macabre”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.