SOMBER
Do you ever pass over a word several times but the meaning of it remains unknown? I do!
I always knew that “somber” meant “sad,” but I never fully investigated its definition. Pete had me proofread a music review of his when I came across this word. “Somber folk,” he wrote.
“Somber” means dark and gloomy, according to Merriam-Webster. It means more than just “sad.” “Somber” drags sadness deeper. It’s heavy depression.
However, Merriam-Webster gives the example of “He wore a somber suit” along with more grave examples. I’m not quite sure how a suit could be depressing. Or folk for that matter.
Do you see “somber” as a dark, heavy word? Or do you think it can be used to described things that aren’t necessarily considered sad?
Emilee Lindner 
I’d say somber is a word that lends gravitas, a sense of serious business, to a feeling. I don’t consider the word as principally conveying sadness.
A funeral, of course, can be sad and described as somber. But isn’t there an element of respect attached to the “somber” as well?