dour
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dour¹
- /ˈdʊə/ UK
- /ˈdaʊə/ UK
- /ˈdʊɹ/ US
- /ˈdaʊɚ/ US
- /ˈdaʊ.ɚ/ US
- /ˈdur/ Scotland
Sounds like Daur, doer, door, dower (some speakers) · Rhymes with -aʊə(ɹ), -ʊə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Scots dour, possibly from Latin dūrus (“hard, stern”), via Middle Irish dúr.
Compare French dur, Catalan dur, Italian duro, Portuguese duro, Romanian dur, Spanish duro. Doublet of dure.
adjective dourer · more dour · dourest · most dour
-
Stern, harsh and forbidding.
The principal reason is that, in competition with modern road vehicles running over motorways, B.R. has a dour struggle to match the performance of its rivals cost-wise.
Similar: forbidding, harsh, severe, stern
-
Unyielding and obstinate.
Similar: stubborn
-
Expressing gloom or melancholy.
Similar: dejected, gloomy, melancholic, sullen
dour²
noun dours
- Alternative form of daur The detachment that went out the day before yesterday on a dour have not returned: the party consisted of 200 Highlanders and 100 Sikhs, also twenty horsemen.
Translations
Every language
adj stern, harsh and forbidding
| Español | severo, austero, duro, rigorista, riguroso |
|---|---|
| Português | duro, rígido |
| Français | sévère, austère, dur, rigoriste, rigoureux |
| Deutsch | mürrisch, rau, verdrießlich, griesgrämig, unwirsch, abweisend |
| Italiano | austero, severo, arcigno, rigoroso |
| Русский | стро́гий strógij, суро́вый suróvyj |
adj unyielding and obstinate
| Español | rígido, inflexible, obstinado, terco, despiadado |
|---|---|
| Français | rigide, inflexible, obstiné, entêté, têtu |
| Deutsch | unnachgiebig, halsstarrig, starrköpfig, störrisch |
| Italiano | rigido, indeflessibile, inflessibile, ostinato |
| Русский | непрекло́нный nepreklónnyj |
Talk about this word "dour." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dour. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dour. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dour "dour." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dour.Cite this
@misc{dour_2026,
title = {dour},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dour},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
