From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmacabrema‧ca‧bre /məˈkɑːbrə, -bə $ -brə, -bər/ adjective UNPLEASANTvery strange and unpleasant and connected with death or with people being seriously hurt a macabre tale a macabre sense of humour
Examples from the Corpus
macabre• These drawings of the dead are moving rather than macabre.• Politics, blocked, has turned macabre.• Here sea, death and physical passion combine in a macabre and concrete image.• Although the spectacle had macabre entertainment value, a fundamental question got buried in the slime: Did Carey finagle the books?• And though this may sound macabre, I did enjoy last night once it got going.• a macabre sense of humor• Dimitri's enquiry didn't seem in the least strange or macabre to me.• It adds a macabre touch to the bones from the hospital.• Just as macabre was the 8 for 28 collapse at Leeds.Origin macabre (1400-1500) French (danse) macabre “dance of death”, from earlier (danse de) Macabré, perhaps from Medieval Latin chorea Maccabaeorum “dance of the Maccabees”, a representation of the killing of the Maccabees, a Jewish family of Bible times 