dreary

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dreary

/ˈdɹɪəɹi/ Australia, UK
/ˈdɹɪɹi/
/ˈdɹɪɚi/ US
/ˈdɹiɹi/ US
/ˈdɹiɹɪ/ Scotland
/ˈdɹiɹe/ Scotland
/ˈdɹiəɹi/ New Zealand
/ˈdɹɛːɹi/

Rhymes with -ɪəɹi

Where it comes from

From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-West Germanic *dreuʀag, from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian trurich (“sad, dreary”), West Frisian treurich (“sad, dreary”), Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrugr, dreyrigr (“bloody, gory”), whence Icelandic dreyrugur (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).

adjective drearier · more dreary · dreariest · most dreary

Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless. It had rained for three days straight, and the dreary weather dragged the townspeople's spirits down.
Similar: bleak, gloomy, cheerless, comfortless, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful
obsolete Grievous, dire; appalling.

noun drearies

rare A dreary person or thing. In the glow of this project Steele manages to forget altogether the parade of donnish and scholastic drearies, the barricades of schoolbooks, texts, examinations with which he has dealt so faithfully.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: drear, cheerless, gloomy, dismal, drab, dull, dingy, uncheerful, sorry, grim, depressing, sad, ghoulish, bleak, bored, tired

Translations

Every language

adj drab

Español	aburrido, triste
日本語	荒涼とした kouryoutoshita, わびしい wabishii
Português	melancólico
Français	terne, insipide, maussade
Deutsch	öde, trostlos, trüb, freudlos
Italiano	melanconico, malinconico
Română	tern, insipid, mosad, trist, melancolic
Русский	мра́чный mráčnyj, тоскли́вый tosklívyj, печа́льный pečálʹnyj, гру́стный grústnyj, безотра́дный bezotrádnyj, му́торный mútornyj

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MLA

"dreary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dreary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dreary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dreary

Chicago

"dreary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dreary.

BibTeX

@misc{dreary_2026,
  title = {dreary},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dreary},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}