different between macabre vs baleful
macabre
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain, but possibly derives from the term danse macabre – the attribute of which was construed as an adjective – most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.
Another theory derives the term from Spanish macabro, from Arabic ????????? (maq?bir, “cemeteries”), plural of ?????????? (maqbara) or ?????????? (maqbura). Borrowing Arabic in plural form is not unusual: a similar case is the word magazine, derived from the plural ????? max?zin of the Arabic singular noun ???? maxzan "storehouse/depot/shop".
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /m??k??b??/, /m??k??b?(?)/
- (US) IPA(key): /m??k?b/, /m??k?b??/, /m??k?b?/
- Homophone: McCobb
Adjective
macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)
- Representing or personifying death.
- 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106
- There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world […] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.
- 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106
- Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
- 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275
- Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.
- 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275
- Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
- 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction
- The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.
- Synonyms: ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying
- 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction
Derived terms
- danse macabre
Translations
See also
- Danse Macabre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
References
Anagrams
- carbeam
Catalan
Etymology
From French macabre
Adjective
macabre (feminine macabra, masculine and feminine plural macabres)
- macabre
French
Etymology
From Danse Macabre (“dance of death”), from Old French, usually said to be from Macabé (“Maccabee”), in reference to a mystery play depicting their slaughter. See Maccabee.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ma.kab?/
Adjective
macabre (plural macabres)
- macabre
Synonyms
- lugubre
Derived terms
- danse macabre
Further reading
- “macabre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
References
Italian
Adjective
macabre
- feminine plural of macabro
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ma?ka.bre]
Adjective
macabre
- nominative feminine plural of macabru
- accusative feminine plural of macabru
- nominative neuter plural of macabru
- accusative neuter plural of macabru
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baleful
English
Alternative forms
- balefull (archaic)
Etymology
From Middle English baleful, balful, baluful, from Old English bealuful, which being equivalent to bealu +? -ful. Surface analysis as bale (“evil, woe”) +? -ful. See bale for further etymology.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?be?l.f?l/
Adjective
baleful (comparative more baleful, superlative most baleful)
- Portending evil; ominous.
- 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night
- The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms,
- Amidst the soundless solitudes immense
- Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 194, [1]
- […] he went off alone with his family, and, watched by the day's red baleful eye, pumped the pump-car homeward, […]
- 1949, Naomi Replansky, “Complaint of the Ignorant Wizard” in Ring Song (published 1952):
- I learned the speech of birds; now every tree
Screams out to me a baleful prophecy.
- I learned the speech of birds; now every tree
- 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night
- Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book I), line 56
- round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay ...
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book I), line 56
Derived terms
- balefully
- unbaleful
Translations
Middle English
Alternative forms
- balful, baluful, balefulle, balefule, balleful, balefull, balful, balfulle
Etymology
From Old English bealuful; equivalent to bale +? -ful.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?ba?lful/, /?balful/
Adjective
baleful
- evil, horrible, malicious
- (rare) dangerous, harmful, injurious
- (rare) worthless, petty, lowly
Derived terms
- balfulli
Descendants
- English: baleful
References
- “b?leful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.
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