Dictionary

tenebrific en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌtɛn.ɪˈbɹɪf.ɪk/

Etymology

From New Latin tenebrificus, from Latin tenebrae (“darkness”) + -i- + -ficus (“making, causing”).

Meanings

1. Producing darkness, obscuring; (loosely) gloomy.
   • Tenebrific stars were once thought to be the source of darkness during the night.
   • It lightens, it brightens, / The tenebrific ſcene, / To meet with, and greet with / My Davie, or my Jean! 1793, Robert Burns, “Epistle to Davie, A Brother Poet”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza X, page 222:

Forms

Deriveds

tenebrificous