caliginous
- adjective
- /kəˈlɪdʒɪnəs/
- Archaic
- The forest was caliginous, with shadows lurking between the trees and a thick mist hanging in the air.
Examples
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He found the caliginous alley dark and unsettling, each corner shrouded in an unsettling haze.
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You clinking, clanking, clattering... ...collection of caliginous junk!
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As the sun set behind the mountains, the sky turned caliginous, enveloping the landscape in an eerie gloom.
Synonyms
Dark and not well lit so a place feels sad
Dark and gloomy in a way that makes you feel uncertain or afraid
Very dark, almost black, in color or very sad and gloomy
Hard to see or understand because it is not clear
Very dark and gloomy with no light
Dark and gloomy in a way that makes a place feel sad or scary
Dark and gloomy in a way that makes a place feel scary
Dark and sad in a way that makes you feel unhappy
Antonyms
How Dark
Surface Forms
Morphology
caliginous = caligin + ous
Formed from a non-productive Latin combining form 'caligin-' plus the adjective suffix '-ous'; the root is not a standalone English word, so learners cannot transparently derive the meaning.
Etymology
Caliginous comes from the Latin word caligo, which means 'darkness' or 'mist'. So a caliginous place feels dim and gloomy, like a town covered in thick fog.