Macabre

Choose the Right Synonym for macabre

ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, lurid mean horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect. ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts. a ghastly accident grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty. an unusually grisly murder suffered a gruesome death macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death. a macabre tale of premature burial lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder. the lurid details of a crime

Where does the word macabre come from?

We trace the origins of macabre to the name of the Book of Maccabees which is included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha. Sections of this biblical text address both the deaths of faithful people asked to renounce their religion and the manner in which the dead should be properly commemorated. The latter includes a discussion of praying for the souls of the dead, which was important in the development of the notion of purgatory and a happy afterlife for those persecuted for their religion. In medieval France, representations of these passages were performed as a procession or dance which became known as the “dance of death” or “dance Maccabee,” which was spelled in several different ways, including danse macabre.

In English, macabre was originally used in reference to this “dance of death” and then gradually became used more broadly, referring to anything grim or gruesome. It has come to be used as a synonym of horrible or distressing, always with a connection to the physical aspects of death and suffering.

Examples of macabre in a Sentence

a macabre story of murder and madness Police discovered a macabre scene inside the house.

Recent Examples on the Web Perhaps the most macabre proof of the dysfunction in Tomsk came when, according to local media, a family picked up the body of their beloved aunt, who, as they had been told, died at Medical-Sanitary Unit Number Two. — Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, "The Life and COVID Death of a Revered Siberian Doctor," 8 Dec. 2020 Her humor and its offspring—two novels, a memoir, a delightfully macabre collection of stories, along with hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and objets—have been unearthed on several occasions since her death, in 2011. — Merve Emre, The New Yorker, "How Leonora Carrington Feminized Surrealism," 21 Dec. 2020 The names of colors are usually fanciful, but mummy brown is a surprisingly accurate description of this macabre pigment. — Mark Thiessen, National Geographic, "Episode 7: An Accidental Case of the Blues," 8 Dec. 2020 The macabre burial sites, guarded 24 hours a day to keep people and animals away, have drawn complaints from area residents about possible health risks. — NBC News, "Denmark wants to dig up 'zombie mink' from mass graves," 30 Nov. 2020 There’s no more classic Halloween image than a glowing jack-o’-lantern perched in a window or on a porch, setting a merrily macabre mood. — National Geographic, "The twisted transatlantic tale of American jack-o’-lanterns," 27 Oct. 2020 Even in the darkest of times, I'm drawn to this macabre sense of humor. — Omar Sanchez, EW.com, "Adam Brody on his 'brutal' awkward cry at the end of The Kid Detective," 19 Oct. 2020 While the blue-haired artist's Demidevil mixtape won't arrive until February 2021, Ashnikko has a macabre treat to hold you over until then. — Gab Ginsberg, Billboard, "Treat Or Treat Yourself to This Witchin' 2020 Halloween Playlist," 30 Oct. 2020 Through one door is a necropolis of dead snakes preserved in glass jars arranged helter-skelter on a counter, reminiscent of a macabre Victorian cabinet of curiosities. — Myles Karp, Smithsonian Magazine, "The Lab Saving the World From Snake Bites," 21 Oct. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'macabre.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.