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sombre

French, adjective

sombre is spelled S-O-M-B-R-E (6 letters) and appears 26 times per million words in written French, the 2,990th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Sombre is a French adjective meaning “dark” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of sombrer. With an accent, sombré is a different word: “past participle of sombrer”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui est peu éclairé ; qui reçoit peu de lumière ; qui est obscur”.

What does sombre mean in English?

adjective

  1. 1

    dark

  2. 2

    derogatoryright, damn, bloody

    un sombre crétin

verb

  1. 1

    first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive

  2. 2

    second-person singular imperative

verb

as sombré
  1. 1

    past participle of sombrer

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

adjective: 1. Qui est peu éclairé ; qui reçoit peu de lumière ; qui est obscur. 2. Qui est moins éclatant, qui est plus foncé que les autres, en parlant d’une teinte, d’une couleur. 3. Qui est mélancolique, morne, taciturne ou chagrin. 4. Qui est inquiétant ou menaçant.

noun: 1. Partie d’une chose qui est plus sombre que le reste.

adjective: 1. Qualifie un navire qui a sombré. 2. Qualifie une voix couverte, amortie, qui a été sombrée.

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of sombre

  • sombres plural
  • sombrée feminine
  • sombrés masculine plural
  • sombrées feminine plural

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to sombre

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is sombre in French?

sombre appears 26 times per million words in written French.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after sombre