adjective
also ma·ca·ber məˈkäb(rə), -kȧb(-, chiefly before a pause -br ə , chiefly before a vowel following without pause -br ( br beginning the syllable to which the following vowel belongs ); sometimes- bə(r)
Etymology: French, from ( danse ) macabre dance of death, from Middle French ( danse ) macabré, (danse de) Macabré, from Macchabées Maccabees, 2d-1st century B.C. Jewish patriots; probably from their being associated with death because of a passage in 2 Macc (12:43-46) that is important in the development of the concepts of purgatory and prayers for the dead
1. : concerned with death or having death as a subject : comprising or including a personalized representation of death
German baroque poems containing macabre blazons, describing … the parts of the dead body — Leo Spitzer
— compare danse macabre
2. : concerned with or dwelling unduly on the grim, grisly, or gruesome : designed to produce an effect of horror
a macabre presentation of a tragic story
— often used absolutely
a writer specializing in the macabre
3. : tending to produce horror in a beholder : horrible , distressing , unpleasant
this macabre procession of starving peasants
government couldn't resist the macabre impulse to set down a huge, modern atomic establishment … in such an old-time, idyllic spot — Conrad Richter
• ma·ca·bre·ly -b(rə)lē sometimes -bə(r)lē adverb