lugubrious
/luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/
"lugubrious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lugubrious” is uncommon English (frequency #92,821 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,821
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lugubrious · lugubrious · English
lugubrious · rank #92,821 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #92,821
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lucre
Nearest frequency peer: lucre (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “lugubrious”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- longform
longform
7,186 corpus weight
- louden
louden
7,182 corpus weight
- lucre
lucre
7,181 corpus weight
- lugubrious
lugubrious
7,180 corpus weight
- lumb
lumb
7,179 corpus weight
- Luoyang
Luoyang
7,178 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “lugubrious” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “lugubrious” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lugubrious is uncommon English at frequency #92,821 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /luːˈɡ(j)uː.bɹi.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lugubrious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His client’s lugubrious expression tipped off the detective that something lurked beneath her optimistic words.
The exaggeration with darkness imparted to the glooms of this region impressed Henchard more than he had expected. The lugubrious harmony of the spot with his domestic situation was too perfect for him, impatient of effects, scenes, and adumbrations.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lugubrious", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).