Morose

Morose

Adjective · /məˈrəʊs/

Definition

Sullen, ill-tempered, and unsociable; gloomy and bad-tempered; characterised by a dark, sulky mood.

Origin

From Latin morosus (peevish, fastidious, hard to please), from mos/moris (custom, manner, will). The root mos/moris giving both moral and morose, but through different semantic developments — moral taking the sense of relating to customs and right conduct, while morosus taking the sense of governed by one's own capricious will, hence fastidious, difficult, peevish. The word entering English in the 16th century. A morose person being not merely sad but ill-temperedly, unsociably gloomy — the mood being combined with a quality of sullen withdrawal from social engagement.