adjective
macabre
muh-KAH-bruh/məˈkɑːbrə/
Disturbingly connected with death or gruesome subjects.
The skull candleholder gives the display a macabre appearance.
Etymology
Old French Macabre belonged to the name of the dance of death, depicting Death carrying away people of every rank. That association broadened into the modern sense of death-related gruesomeness; the name’s origin remains uncertain.
In context
they're not whimpering it's like they're seeing a funeral dirge that's really macabre
More examples
- A row of skulls gave the chamber a macabre appearance.
- She collects macabre tales of haunted burial grounds.
- The museum’s anatomical display fascinated his macabre imagination.
Forms
macabre · more macabre · most macabre
Similar words
- gruesome
- Gruesome stresses horrifying detail; macabre specifically evokes death or the grotesque.
- morbid
- Morbid suggests an unhealthy preoccupation with disturbing matters; macabre especially concerns death-related imagery.