sombreadj/ˈsɒmbə/

• 1

  Dark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit.

  • The lady led him into a sombre hallway and disappeared. A moment later the windowless chamber was illuminated by the entry of a heavenly creature emitting a radiance prone to pierce the heart of any youth exposed to it.
  • All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles.
• 2

  Dull or dark in colour or brightness.

  • His tall and slender figure, dressed in sombre black, his hair of that peculiar reddish auburn so rarely seen, his flashing black eyes, in which a fitful fire seemed for ever burning; all combined to give something almost of a demoniac air ...
• 3

  Melancholic, gloomy, dreary, dismal; grim.

  • The dinner was silent and sombre; happily it was also short.
  • It was a wonder that he had not been a victim of the ferocious and summary executions which marked the course of that tyranny; for Guzman had ruled the country with the sombre imbecility of political fanaticism.
• 4

  Grave; extremely serious.

  • a sombre situation

sombrenoun/ˈsɒmbə/

• 1

  obsoleteGloom; obscurity; duskiness.

sombreverb/ˈsɒmbə/

• 1

  To make sombre or dark; to make shady.