Meaning & use
morose
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Silent and bad-tempered because you are in a gloomy mood; not willing to talk or smile.
Grammar: Used after linking verbs like be, seem, look, become: He became morose.
Patterns
- be morose
- become morose
- look morose
- a morose mood
After losing the match, he sat morose in the corner and refused to speak to anyone.
She gets morose whenever the weather turns gray and rainy for days.
His morose expression told us the meeting had not gone well.
adjectivecomparable
Showing a gloomy, withdrawn attitude over a period of time.
Grammar: Often used before a noun to describe a person's mood or manner: a morose silence.
Patterns
- a morose silence
- a morose mood
- morose about something
There was a morose silence in the car after the argument.
He has been morose about his job ever since the new manager arrived.
The team's morose mood lifted after they scored.
Word forms
| comparative | more morose |
|---|---|
| superlative | most morose |
Common combinations
- become morose
- He tends to become morose when he drinks.
- morose silence
- A morose silence fell over the dinner table.
- look morose
- You look morose today—did something happen?
- mood turns morose
- Her mood turned morose as the evening wore on.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sullen
- Sullen emphasizes silent resentment and a refusal to cooperate, often after being told off; morose is more about a general gloomy, withdrawn mood.
- gloomy
- Gloomy can describe places and weather as well as people, and it focuses on sadness; morose is only for people and adds bad temper.
- surly
- Surly suggests rude, unfriendly behavior, not just silence; morose people are quiet rather than rude.
Opposites
Word family
- morosely adverb
- In a gloomy, bad-tempered way: He stared morosely out the window.
- moroseness noun
- The quality of being gloomy and unwilling to talk: Her moroseness worried her friends.
Commonly confused: morose or morbid? morose or mores?
morose vs morbid
Morbid means interested in unpleasant subjects like death; morose means gloomy and silent in mood.
morose vs mores
Mores (pronounced /ˈmɔːreɪz/) are the customs of a group; morose is an adjective for a person's mood.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'morose' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Morose' describes a person's gloomy, silent mood, so 'He was morose about the news' fits. It is not used for weather (option 0), not a verb (option 2), and not a noun (option 3).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “morose”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.