different between sombre vs harsh

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French sombre (“dark”), from Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer or Latin sub- + umbra. Compare Spanish sombra (“shade; dark part of a picture; ghost”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?mb?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?mb?/
• Rhymes: -?mb?(?)
• Hyphenation: som?bre

Adjective

sombre (comparative sombrer, superlative sombrest) (British spelling, Canadian spelling)

1. Dark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit.
   • 2015, Hermann Kauders, Before The Cock Crows (?ISBN), page 9:

     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.

2. Dull or dark in colour or brightness.
   • 1877, The Black Band; or, The Mysteries of Midnight, page 47:

     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.
   • 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil

     The dinner was silent and sombre; happily it was also short.

   • 2012, Peter Turnbull, Aftermath, Severn House Publishers Ltd (?ISBN)

     A sombre mood, very sombre in fact, thought Hennessey, as he stood against the wall observing the procedure for the police. He had not known a mood more sombre to have previously descended on the room.

4. Grave; extremely serious.

   a sombre situation

Alternative forms

• somber (US)

Synonyms

• melancholy
• dreary
• dire
• dismal

Translations

Noun

sombre (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Gloom; obscurity; duskiness.

Verb

sombre (third-person singular simple present sombres, present participle sombring, simple past and past participle sombred)

1. To make sombre or dark; to make shady.

References

• sombre in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• bromes, ombres, somber

French

Etymology

From Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer (from a Vulgar Latin *subumbr?re), or from Latin sub + umbra. Cf. also Spanish and Portuguese sombra (“shadow”), likely with influence from sol (“sun”). See also Old French essombre, with a different prefix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??b?/

Adjective

sombre (plural sombres)

1. dark
2. (derogatory) right, damn, bloody

Synonyms

• foncé
• obscur

Antonyms

• clair

Derived terms

• matière sombre

Descendants

• ? English: sombre

Verb

sombre

1. first-person singular present indicative of sombrer
2. third-person singular present indicative of sombrer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of sombrer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of sombrer
5. second-person singular imperative of sombrer

Further reading

• “sombre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ombres

Norman

Etymology

From Old French sombre, from a verb *sombrer (from a Vulgar Latin *subumbr?re), or from Latin sub (“under”) + umbra (“shadow”).

Adjective

sombre m or f

1. (Jersey) sombre, dark

Spanish

Verb

sombre

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of sombrar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of sombrar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of sombrar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of sombrar.

English

Etymology

From Middle English harsk, harisk(e), hask(e), herris. Century derived the term from Old Norse harskr (whence Danish harsk (“rancid”), dialectal Norwegian hersk, Swedish härsk); the Middle English Dictionary derives it from that and Middle Low German harsch (“rough”, literally “hairy”) (whence also German harsch), from haer (“hair”); the Oxford Dictionary of English derives it from Middle Low German alone.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /h???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)?

Adjective

harsh (comparative harsher, superlative harshest)

1. Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses.
2. Severe or cruel.

Antonyms

• genteel

Translations

Verb

harsh (third-person singular simple present harshes, present participle harshing, simple past and past participle harshed)

1. (intransitive, slang) To negatively criticize.
2. (transitive, slang) to put a damper on (a mood).

Synonyms

• rough

Derived terms

• harshly
• harshness

Translations