Def.- Grave or even gloomy in character
Syn.- Dark, gloomy, melancholy, grave, dismal, serious
"People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years."
- Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
The tone of this passage is a somber one. The author makes this evident with his choice of adjectives. "the shiftless alcholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire, pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters" all evoke a sad, gloomy mood, as neither of those adjectives can be seen as being positive. Also, the author complains about how the English have treated the Irish, which might account for their "poverty" as well.