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macabre
- 3 dictionary resultsma⋅ca⋅bre
[muh-kah-bruh, -kahb, -kah-ber] 
–adjective
| 1. | gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible. |
| 2. | of, pertaining to, dealing with, or representing death, esp. its grimmer or uglier aspect. |
| 3. | of or suggestive of the allegorical dance of death. |
Also, ma⋅ca⋅ber.
Origin:
1400–50; < F; cf. late ME Macabrees daunce < MF danse (de) Macabré, of uncert. orig.; perh. to be identified with ML chorēa Machabaeōrum a representation of the deaths of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, but evidence is lacking; the F pron. with mute e is a misreading of the MF forms
1400–50; < F; cf. late ME Macabrees daunce < MF danse (de) Macabré, of uncert. orig.; perh. to be identified with ML chorēa Machabaeōrum a representation of the deaths of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, but evidence is lacking; the F pron. with mute e is a misreading of the MF forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To macabre
| ma·ca·bre (mə-kä'brə, mə-käb', -kä'bər) adj.
[Ultimately from Old French (Danse) Macabre, (dance) of death, perhaps alteration of Macabe, Maccabee, from Latin Maccabaeus, from Greek Makkabios.] ma·ca'bre·ly adv. Word History: The word macabre is an excellent example of a word formed with reference to a specific context that has long since disappeared for everyone but scholars. Macabre is first recorded in the phrase Macabrees daunce in a work written around 1430 by John Lydgate. Macabree was thought by Lydgate to be the name of a French author, but in fact he misunderstood the Old French phrase Danse Macabre, "the Dance of Death," a subject of art and literature. In this dance, Death leads people of all classes and walks of life to the same final end. The macabre element may be an alteration of Macabe, "a Maccabee." The Maccabees were Jewish martyrs who were honored by a feast throughout the Western Church, and reverence for them was linked to reverence for the dead. Today macabre has no connection with the Maccabees and little connection with the Dance of Death, but it still has to do with death. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
macabre
c.1430, from O.Fr. (danse) Macabré "(dance) of Death" (1376), probably a translation of M.L. (Chorea) Machabæorum, lit. "dance of the Maccabees" (leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syro-Hellenes, see Maccabees). The association with the dance of death seems to be via vivid descriptions of the martyrdom of the Maccabees in the Apocryphal books. The abstracted sense of "gruesome" is first attested 1842 in Fr., 1889 in Eng.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Language Translation for : macabre
Spanish:
macabro,
German:
grausig, makaber,
Japanese:
気味の悪い
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