different between lugubrious vs lugubriousness

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin l?gubris (“mournful; gloomy”), with the suffix -ious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l???(j)u?b?i.?s/

Adjective

lugubrious (comparative more lugubrious, superlative most lugubrious)

1. Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

lugubrious +? -ness

Noun

lugubriousness (uncountable)

1. The property of being lugubrious.
   • 1896, Eugene Field, “The Platonic Bassoon” in The Holy Cross and Other Tales, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, p. 198,^[1]

     If you have never beheld or heard a bassoon you are to understand that it is an instrument of wood, of considerable more length than breadth, provided with numerous stops and keys, and capable of producing an infinite variety of tones, ranging from the depth of lugubriousness to the highest pitch of vivacity.

   • 1915, Luther Burbank, Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries, Their Practical Application, New York: Luther Burbank Press, Volume 12, Chapter 1, p. 29,^[2]

     It is a little difficult for the present generation to gain a clear conception of the New England Sabbath of the time of my boyhood; but this outline at least will give a general impression of its lugubriousness, and it may readily be inferred that the day thus given over to dolorous tasks was not one to which the child would look forward joyously.

   • 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer,^[3]

     The neighborhood appealed to me, particularly at night when the full squalor and lugubriousness of it made itself felt.

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, 2001, Part One, Chapter 4,

     He didn’t have the Hindu delight in tragedy and the details of death, and he had often asked Shama not to sing this cremation song. Now he had to listen while she sang with sweet lugubriousness to the end.