sullen
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: sŭlʹən
ipa: /ˈsʌlən/
rhymes: -ʌlən
Forms: form: sullener
form: sullenest
Etymology: From Middle English soleyn, from Anglo-Norman soleyn (“alone”), from Old French sole (“single, sole, alone”), from Latin sōlus (“by oneself alone”). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.
Senses: examples: text: Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, / For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; / Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, / ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;
ref: 1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis:
text: And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.
ref: 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure:
text: 2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring.
Sullen and bored the kids stay / And in this way wish away each day
synonyms: sulky
morose
broody
antonyms: cheerful
content
lighthearted
pleased
glosses: Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
examples: text: a sullen atmosphere
text: Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], line 88:
text: He added not; and Satan bowing low / His gray diſſimulation, diſappear'd / Into thin Air diffuſ'd: for now began / Night with her ſullen wing to double-ſhade / The Deſert; Fowls in thir clay neſts were couch't; / And now wild Beaſts came forth the woods to roam.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 27, lines 497–502:
text: No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, / The dreaded East is all the wind that blows.
ref: 1714, Alexander Pope, “Canto 4”, in The Rape of the Lock:
synonyms: word: forlorn
word: melancholy
word: cheerless
word: comfortless
word: bleak
word: dark
word: depressing
word: desolate
word: dire
word: disconsolate
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: drear
word: drearisome
word: dreary
word: dreich
word: forlorn
word: gayless
word: gray
word: gloomsome
word: gloomy
word: grim
word: joyless
word: lack-laughter
word: lugubrious
word: melancholy
word: mirthless
word: miserable
word: no joke
word: saturnine
word: solemn
word: somber
word: sombre
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: sunless
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unhappy
word: unmerry
word: wintry
word: woeful
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: blitheless
word: dispirited
word: blue
word: bummed out
word: chapfallen
word: cheerless
word: chopfallen
word: crestfallen
word: cut up
word: damp
word: dejected
word: depressed
word: despondent
word: disgruntled
word: disconsolate
word: disheartened
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: down
word: down in the dumps
word: down in the mouth
word: downcast
word: downhearted
word: downsome
word: dull
word: elegiac
word: elegious
word: forlorn
word: gloomy
word: glum
word: grief-stricken
word: grieving
word: heavy-hearted
word: heartsore
word: heartsick
word: inconsolable
word: infelicitous
word: jawfallen
word: joyless
word: lachrymose
word: lamentful
word: low
word: low-spirited
word: lugubrious
word: lumpish
word: melancholic
word: melancholy
word: miserable
word: moody
word: mopey
word: morose
word: mournful
word: passionate
word: plaintive
word: querulous
word: sad
word: saddened
word: saturnine
word: shattered
word: solemn
word: sombre
word: sorrowful
word: sorrow-ridden
word: sorrowsome
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: threnetic
word: threnetical
word: triste
word: tristful
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unconsolable
word: unhappy
word: unlively
word: wistful
word: woe
word: woebegone
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
examples: text: The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.
ref: 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
text: When ends life's transient dream, / when death’s cold, sullen stream / shall o'er me roll,
ref: 1830, Ray Palmer, “My Faith Looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary”:
synonyms: word: ponderous
word: stately
word: crawling
word: languid
word: languorous
word: draggy
word: creeping
word: dreich
word: gastropodous
word: glacial
word: heavy-footed
word: inching
word: inert
word: labored
word: leaden
word: lead-footed
word: lethargic
word: low-speed
word: lumbering
word: plodding
word: pokey
word: ponderous
word: slothlike
word: slow
word: slow as a snail
word: slow as Christmas
word: slow as molasses
word: slow as molasses in January
word: slowfooted
word: sluggish
word: stately
word: steady
word: subglacial
word: sullen
word: tardigrade
word: tedious
word: testudineous
word: torpid
word: unspeedy
glosses: Sluggish; slow.
examples: text: Such sullen planets at my birth did shine, / They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine.
ref: 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
text: she meets again / The savage murderer's sullen gaze,
ref: 1835, John Greenleaf Whittier, Mogg Megone:
synonyms: word: malevolent
word: ominous
word: abandoned
word: arrant
word: bad
word: bad apple
word: bad seed
word: baleful
word: baneful
word: base
word: dark
word: deleterious
word: depraved
word: despicable
word: detrimental
word: devilish
word: diabolical
word: evil
word: flagitious
word: harmful
word: ill-intentioned
word: ill-natured
word: immoral
word: incorrigible
word: iniquitous
word: iniquous
word: injurious
word: knavish
word: malefic
word: maleficent
word: malevolent
word: malicious
word: malign
word: malignant
word: nefarious
word: niddering
word: nidering
word: niding
word: nithing
word: no-good
word: peccaminous
word: pernicious
word: reprehensible
word: reprobate
word: satanic
word: scathful
word: sinful
word: sinister
word: sordid
word: sullen
word: ungodly
word: unholy
word: vicious
word: vile
word: villainous
word: wicked
word: wrong
word: augurous
word: baleful
word: bodeful
word: boding
word: dire
word: disastrous
word: fatal
word: foreboding
word: ill-boding
word: ill-fated
word: ill-omened
word: ill-starred
word: inauspicate
word: inauspicious
word: nefastous
word: omenic
word: ominous
word: brooding
word: portentous
word: presageful
word: presagious
word: prodigious
word: sinister
word: star-crossed
word: sullen
glosses: Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
examples: text: Things are as sullen as we are, and will be what they are whatever we think of them.
ref: a. 1694, John Tillotson, Imprudence of Atheism:
synonyms: word: inflexible
word: persistent
word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bloody-minded
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: persistent
word: pertinacious
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
glosses: Obstinate; intractable.
Synonyms: word: glum
word: gloomy
word: grouchy
word: gruff
word: ill-tempered
word: ill-humored
word: moody
word: morose
word: sulky
word: sullen
Hypernyms: word: sad
Related terms: word: peevish