sullen
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sullen
- /ˈsʌlən/
Rhymes with -ʌlən
Where it comes from
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.
adjective sullener · sullenest
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Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
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;
Similar: sulky, morose, broody · Opposite: cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased
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Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
a sullen atmosphere
Similar: forlorn, melancholy, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal
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Sluggish; slow.
The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.
Similar: ponderous, stately, crawling, slack, slow-moving, languid, languorous, draggy, tardy, creeping, dreich, gastropodous
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Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
Such sullen planets at my birth did shine, / They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine.
Similar: malevolent, ominous, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted
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Obstinate; intractable.
Things are as sullen as we are, and will be what they are whatever we think of them.
Similar: inflexible, persistent, adamant, ardent, grim, untiring, bent on, bloody-minded, bullheaded, certain, chronic, confirmed
Similar: glum, gloomy, grouchy, gruff, ill-tempered, ill-humored, moody, morose, sulky, sullen · Opposite: cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased
noun sullens
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One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
He sit neither with seint Johan, / Symond ne Jude, / Ne with maydenes ne with martires, / Confessours ne wydewes; / But by hymself as a soleyn, / And served on erthe.
Similar: loner, shut-in, aloner, anchoret, anchorite, eremite, hermit, Miller of Dee, monk, recluse, solitary, sullen
- Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness. And let them die that age and sullens have;
verb sullens · sullening · sullened
- To make sullen. The idle man is like the dumb jack in a virginal: while all the other dance out a winning music, this, like a member out of joint, sullens the whole body, with an ill disturbing laziness.
Thesaurus
adjective
Similar: glum, gloomy, grouchy, gruff, ill-tempered, ill-humored, moody, morose, sulky, sullen · Opposite: cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased
Translations
Every language
adj having a brooding ill temper
| Español | hosco, huraño, fosco |
|---|---|
| Português | carrancudo |
| Français | maussade, morose |
| Deutsch | mürrisch, schlecht gelaunt, sauer, missmutig, übellaunig, unfreundlich |
| Italiano | afflitto, astioso |
| Русский | угрю́мый ugrjúmyj |
Talk about this word "sullen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sullen. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sullen. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sullen "sullen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sullen.Cite this
@misc{sullen_2026,
title = {sullen},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sullen},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
