Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Dismal; bleak.
- adj. Boring; dull: dreary tasks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Sorrowful; sad.
- Lonesomely dismal or gloomy; exciting a feeling of desolation, sadness, or gloom.
- Hence Exciting a feeling of tedium or ennui; tiresomely monotonous: as, a dreary book.
- Synonyms and Cheerless, comfortless, drear, dark. Tedious.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Sorrowful; distressful.
- adj. Exciting cheerless sensations, feelings, or associations; comfortless; dismal; gloomy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. causing dejection
- adj. lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
Etymologies
- Middle English dreri, bloody, frightened, sad, from Old English drēorig, bloody, sad, from drēor, gore; see dhreu- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“He called to tell me he had decided that he would rather begin his stay at the clinic in Switzerland and attend the music conservatory during the holidays than remain at the Clairborne mansion for what he called another dreary Christmas.”
“It was the reward he had promised her for what he called her dreary, mechanical job of copying and copying.”
“It is what I call a dreary, dismal-looking town," said Miles to”
“Her use of the word "dreary" is a clever utilization of a subjective adjective (and a very Wordsworthian one).”
Wordsworth, the _Lyrical Ballads_, and Literary and Social Reform in Nineteenth Century America
“When we were packing up to leave last week I had occasion to re-fondle the Fyberspates yarn in dreary olive green which I had laid out to take to Alyth to donate to charity.”
“The restaurant and night-life industry may be buzzing downtown, but some of the biggest fireworks take place in dreary meeting rooms where tempers flare, tears are shed and the back and forth can stretch on for up to eight hours.”
The Wall Street Journal: Clubs, Eateries Target Local Boards
“After a few months in dreary England, Alfred Tayler went to the Empire Exhibition and was seduced by the thought of farming in Southern Rhodesia.”
“All things considered, it could be worse, but all of the grey and the dreary is sort of sapping my motivation.”
“Boston has had a fair share of cold, rainy and just plain dreary weather over the last couple of months.”
“Right now, we're in dreary Ohio but we're originally from New Jersey.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dreary’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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The Secret Garden
sickly, fretful, toddle, cross, stammer, manor, slink, grind, disdain, imploringly, wring, wailing and 30 more...
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Down in the dumps, feeling blue? Here, then, is a list for you...
feeling blue, down in the dumps, blue devils, mulligrubs, mubblefubbles, melancholy, lugubrious, gloomy gus, eeyore, doleful, woeful, woebegone and 86 more...
Prolagus It's a dark and dreary night
Seems like nothing's going right
Won't you tell me honey how can I go on here without you?
("Ring Ring", by ABBA) May 19, 2008