Synonyms for saturnine
adj gloomycrabbiest
- acid
- acrid
- acrimonious
- awkward
- bad-tempered
- blunt
- brusque
- captious
- choleric
- chuffy
- churlish
- crabbed
- cranky
- cross
- crotchety
- crusty
- cynical
- difficult
- dour
- fretful
- gloomy
- glum
- grouchy
- harsh
- huffy
- ill-humored
- ill-tempered
- irascible
- misanthropic
- morose
- mumpish
- nasty-tempered
- peevish
- perverse
- petulant
- prickly
- saturnine
- snappish
- sour
- splenetic
- sulky
- sullen
- surly
- tart
- testy
- tough
- trying
- unsociable
crabby
- acid
- acrid
- acrimonious
- awkward
- bad-tempered
- blunt
- brusque
- captious
- choleric
- chuffy
- churlish
- crabbed
- cranky
- cross
- crotchety
- crusty
- cynical
- difficult
- dour
- fretful
- gloomy
- glum
- grouchy
- harsh
- huffy
- ill-humored
- ill-tempered
- irascible
- misanthropic
- morose
- mumpish
- nasty-tempered
- peevish
- perverse
- petulant
- prickly
- saturnine
- snappish
- sour
- splenetic
- sulky
- sullen
- surly
- tart
- testy
- tough
- trying
- unsociable
crabby/crabbed
- acid
- acrid
- acrimonious
- awkward
- bad-tempered
- blunt
- brusque
- captious
- choleric
- churlish
- cranky
- cross
- crotchety
- crusty
- cynical
- difficult
- dour
- fretful
- gloomy
- glum
- grouchy
- harsh
- huffy
- ill-humored
- ill-tempered
- irascible
- irritable
- misanthropic
- morose
- nasty-tempered
- peevish
- perverse
- petulant
- prickly
- saturnine
- snappish
- snappy
- sour
- splenetic
- sulky
- sullen
- surly
- tart
- testy
- tough
- trying
- unsociable
crusty
Word Origin & History
"gloomy, morose, sluggish, grave," mid-15c., literally "born under the influence of the planet Saturn," from Middle English Saturne (see Saturn) + -ine (1). Medieval physiology believed these characteristics to be caused by the astrological influence of the planet Saturn, which was the most remote from the Sun (in the limited knowledge of the times) and thus coldest and slowest in its revolution.
Example Sentences forsaturnine
The voice of the older man came with a sinister force and saturnine.
His temper was of the saturnine complexion, and without the least taint of moroseness.
The saturnine Hahn stood at my door with a weapon upon me while I ate.
All the while the little Cuban talked swiftly and with a saturnine enthusiasm.
The witticisms convulsed Paul's neighbours and left him saturnine.
He was a tall, black-eyed man, with the dark, saturnine face of an Indian.
Father Brown seemed rather to like the saturnine candour of the soldier.
He was of a saturnine nature, in whom anger burned slow and deep.
He had a marked squint and this gave him a saturnine expression.
The cook was a gaunt, long-legged person with a saturnine countenance.