Word.ws English Dictionary

grimdark

Syllables: grim·dark/ˈɡɹɪmdɑːk//ˈɡɹɪmˌdɑɹk/

grimdark adjective: of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.

Adjective

grimdark (comparative more grimdark, superlative most grimdark)

  1. (slang) Of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.
    • If your character is a more-or-less ordinary little girl fighting for her life as a usual thing, that's a fairly GRIMDARK setting; it implies that there isn't any Good authority with both the power and the will to protect them.2008 May 16, Galen, “[OT] Necro-loli”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet)
    • Most original. Brilliantly so! What's not to like? "Jarringly non-grimdark," carpers will sneer. Oh, yeah? What's not Grimdark about – / * Droids? / * Vagina heads? / * Gundam suits (desu)?2012 January 6, Playa, “[40k] [Tau] Roundup”, in rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (Usenet)
    Antonyms:
    noblebright

Noun

grimdark (uncountable)

  1. The literary genre of speculative fiction that is amoral, dystopian, or violent.
    • It shows you piles of corpses, then revels in its mechs and future-war grimdark.2025 February, Matt Killeen, “The Forever Winter”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 77
    Antonyms:
    hopepunk

Examples of grimdark in a sentence

  • The thought once occur[r]ed to me, that for a while they had the silver age Legion as the actual past of a grimdark iron age Legion.2012 April 24, David Johnston, “Everybody Enables Superman?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet):
  • Martin’s ongoing fantasy sequence A Song of Fire and Ice^([sic – meaning A Song of Ice and Fire]) is surely the most successful and popular Grimdark fantasy.2014, Adam Roberts, “What are Science Fiction and Fantasy? (And What does that Mean about How You Write Them?)”, in Get Started in: Writing...

Antonyms of grimdark

Forms of grimdark

comparativemore grimdark
superlativemost grimdark

Origin of grimdark

From grim (adjective) + dark (adjective), inspired by the tagline of the tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000 (its rulebook first published in September 1987): In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

Words formed from grimdark

Questions about grimdark

What does grimdark mean?
Grimdark means of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.
How do you use grimdark in a sentence?
The thought once occur[r]ed to me, that for a while they had the silver age Legion as the actual past of a grimdark iron age Legion.
What part of speech is grimdark?
Grimdark can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce grimdark?
Grimdark is pronounced /ˈɡɹɪmdɑːk/ (UK).

Words near grimdark in the dictionary

  1. Grimaldos
  2. grimalkin
  3. grimalkins
  4. Grimbarian
  5. Grimbarians
  6. grimdark
  7. grimderp
  8. grime
  9. Grime's Graves
  10. grimed
  11. grimeless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grimdark (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grimdark.wav, En-us-grimdark.oga.

Cite this entry: “grimdark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grimdark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.