Sombre means serious and dark in mood. A sombre mood, sombre colours, sombre and quiet.
It covers colour and feeling at once — sombre clothing and a sombre occasion belong together, which is why funerals are described with the word. It is heavier than serious and lighter than grim. Note the American spelling somber; and that the French probably comes from a Latin phrase meaning under a shadow.
1adjectivesombreSerious and dark in mood.
“The mood at the funeral was sombre, and nobody spoke much.”
synonyms: grave, melancholy
sombre is a quality of seriousness.
Also accepted in games: somber
French sombre probably comes from a Latin phrase meaning under a shadow, from umbra. Umbrella and umbrage come from the same shade.
Old French
sombre
French
sombre — dark
English, today
sombre
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”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA