Paul Johnson

Germany's Angela Merkel exudes an atmosphere of elderly exhaustion and pooped-out pessimism. Britain's David Cameron, though by nature exuberant, feels he has to look and sound glum. And France's leader, Francois Hollande, seems determined to drive every successful businessman out of the country.

British Journalist

Carolyn See

The Talk-Funny Girl' opens with a glum picture of a desperately poor rural New England family. Poverty has so brutalized the family that the ordinary laws and rules governing humanity have eroded, turning systems of behavior upside down.

American Author

James Wolcott

After a decade this glum, we deserved a shot of 'Glee,' a show that restored our faith in the power of song, the beauty of dance, and the magic of 'spirit fingers' to chase our cares and woes into somebody else's backyard.

American Critic

Ben Dolnick

Writing is a sufficiently lonely and mysterious pastime that I don't begrudge myself a talisman or two, so long as they don't become ways of distracting myself from the glum inescapability of actual work.

American Writer

Tina Brown

Obama fans become more and more glum that he keeps flubbing the very role he was expected to be so good at: Therapist to the nation. The Great Comforter.

American Editor

Lionel Shriver

A manuscript under way always gave me something to do; only while enduring the aimlessness between books was I truly glum.

American Journalist

Colson Whitehead

American Novelist

Glum suggests a mild, quiet sort of sadness without causing a big fuss.

Negative Nuance

'Glum' often implies a sad facial expression or body language.

Non-Verbal Cues

Glum can be used for temporary feelings, not necessarily deep or chronic sadness.

Brief Sadness

'Glum' can describe a negative mood without a specific or known reason.

No Clear Cause

Use 'glum' when someone's mood shifts slightly towards sadness.

Subtle Change

Glum can refer to a moody silence that suggests unhappiness.

Quiet Moodiness

 and the world's broadcasts too have gotten steadily glummer. Why don't people appreciate progress? Part of the answer comes from our cognitive psychology. We estimate risk using a mental shortcut called the "availability heuristic."