grimdark.
Of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.
Meaning & usage
Of a film, television programme, video game, written work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.
Where this word comes from
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.
The literary genre of speculative fiction that is amoral, dystopian, or violent.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.