lugubrious
/luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/
"lugubrious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lugubrious” is an uncommon English word, ranked #92,821 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #92,821
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lugubrious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #92,821 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lugubrious” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lugubrious is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/. Corpus data places it at rank #92,821 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for lugubrious in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin lūgubris (“mournful; gloomy”), with the suffix -ious. The correct English form is lugubrious, spelled L-U-G-U-B-R-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lūgubris (“mournful; gloomy”), with the suffix -ious.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “lugubrious”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-U-G-U-B-R-I-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.