saturnineEnglishOxford American Thesaurussaturnine adjective 1 he was a rather saturnine individual who never spoke an unnecessary word: gloomy, somber, melancholy, melancholic, moody, miserable, lugubrious, dour, glum, unsmiling, humorless, grumpy, bad-tempered; taciturn, uncommunicative, unresponsive. ▷antonyms cheerful, jovial. 2 his saturnine good looks: swarthy, dark, dark-skinned, dark-complexioned; mysterious, mercurial, moody.