macabre

English

WOTD – 31 October 2010

Etymology

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain.[1]

Most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare French danse macabre, presumably from Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.

Possibly from Spanish macabro, from Arabic مَقَابِر (maqābir, tombs, cemeteries), plural of مَقْبَرَة (maqbara) or مَقْبُرَة (maqbura) or of مَقْبَر (maqbar), but the Arabic etymology is rejected by Romance linguists.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məˈkɑːbɹə/, /məˈkɑːbə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /məˈkɑb(ɹə)/, /məˈkɑbɚ/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Homophone: McCobb

Adjective

macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)

  1. Representing or personifying death.
    • 1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106
      There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world [] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.
  2. Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
    • 1993, Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal between Mystery and Mummery", in Werner Sollors (ed.), The Return of Thematic Criticism, pages 274-275
      Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.
  3. Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
    • 1927 [1938], H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, Introduction
      The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.
    Synonyms: ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

Anagrams


Catalan

Adjective

macabre (feminine macabra, masculine and feminine plural macabres)

  1. macabre

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ma.kabʁ/
  • (file)

Adjective

macabre (plural macabres)

  1. macabre

Synonyms

Derived terms

Further reading


Italian

Adjective

macabre

  1. Feminine plural of adjective macabro.

Romanian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [maˈka.bre]

Adjective

macabre

  1. nominative feminine plural of macabru
  2. accusative feminine plural of macabru
  3. nominative neuter plural of macabru
  4. accusative neuter plural of macabru
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