Sullen

/ˈsʌlən/ · adjective

Meaning

Having a brooding ill temper; sulky..

Definitions by Sense

1. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
3. Sluggish; slow.
4. (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
5. (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.
6. (archaic) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
7. (in the plural) Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
8. (obsolete) To make sullen.

Example Sentences

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;

And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.

a sullen atmosphere

Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;

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.

No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, / The dreaded East is all the wind that blows.

The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.

When ends life's transient dream, / when death’s cold, sullen stream / shall o'er me roll,

Synonyms for sullen

Antonyms for sullen

Related Words

Word Forms

• sullener
• sullenest
• sullens
• sullening
• sullened

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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