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View synonyms for sullen
sullen
[ suhl-uhn ]
adjective
- showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve.
Antonyms: cheerful
- persistently and silently ill-humored; morose.
Synonyms: bad-tempered, cranky, sour, moody, sulky
Antonyms: cheerful
- indicative of gloomy ill humor.
- gloomy or dismal, as weather or a sound.
Synonyms: dark, mournful, somber, overcast, clouded, cheerless
- sluggish, as a stream.
- Obsolete. malignant, as planets or influences.
sullen
/ ˈsʌlən /
adjective
- unwilling to talk or be sociable; sulky; morose
- sombre; gloomy
a sullen day
- literary.sluggish; slow
a sullen stream
- obsolete.threatening
noun
- archaic.plural a sullen mood
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Derived Forms
- ˈsullenness, noun
- ˈsullenly, adverb
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Other Words From
- sul·len·ly adverb
- sul·len·ness noun
- un·sul·len adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sullen1
First recorded in 1565–75; earlier sollen, solain, from Middle English solein(e), solain “sole, solitary, sullen,” possibly from Vulgar Latin sōlānus (unattested), from Latin sōlus “alone, only, single”
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sullen1
C16: perhaps from Anglo-French solain (unattested), ultimately related to Latin sōlus alone
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