Susie Dent announces ‘mulligrubs’ is word of the day to reflect national ‘sense of doom’

The word of the day today (27 September) is “mulligrubs”, which translates to “a sense of doom”.

Susie Dent, who is known for presenting in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner, uses her Twitter account to regularly share a word of the day.

On Tuesday morning, she revealed the word, saying: “Word of the day is ‘mulligrubs’ (16th century): a state of despondency or sense of doom.”

The word is also defined by Merriam-Webster as a “a despondent, sullen, or ill-tempered mood: sulks, blues”. It’s also been characterised as “feelings of melancholy, sullenness, or depression” by Oxford Languages.

Many have joked that “mulligrubs” seems to aptly sum up the national mood in the UK, prompting Dent’s tweet to go viral.

Commenting on Dent’s post, one person wrote: “Haha, I had the exact same thought. ‘Oh that explains everything’.”

Another wrote: “I’ve got a wee case of the mulligrubs this morning, can’t decide if it’s Nasa blasting an asteroid or the economy tanking that’s doing it. Top of the morning to ya I guess.”

Meanwhile, someone else simply wrote: “State of the nation.” A fourth added: “The whole country has the mulligrubs”

“If we don’t all have the mulligrubs now we have not been paying attention,” said another Tweeter.

“Isn’t that just ‘being British’?” read another comment, while someone else wrote “Well it sounds like I’ve been mulligrubs for most of my life!”

The UK is currently in the throes of several crises, including the cost-of-living crisis, an impending energy crisis, and a economic crisis which this week saw the pound drop to its lowest ever value against the dollar.