sullen

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“
Some boys would have been sullen, and would not have volunteered that information, he was sure Before Frank started on his lonely errand, he carried Henri's bicycle back of the hedge.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Showing a brooding ill humor or silent resentment; morose or sulky.
  2. adjective Gloomy or somber in tone, color, or portent: sullen, gray skies.
  3. adjective Sluggish; slow: the sullen current of a canal.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Wayland was sullen, apologetic, and contrite by turns. —  The Pleasant Street Partnership A Neighborhood Story
  • And now for the first time she was out on the open sea It was one of those gloomy winter days when the whole ocean looks sullen--heavy with brooding storms. —  Agatha's Husband A Novel
  • At other times I was sullen, and that always annoyed her. —  The Privateersman
  • In this situation he had found time, in the intervals of duty, to read and to think; he became, in time, sullen, and separated himself from the occasional merriment of his mess-mates; and it is not improbable that this moody temper had given rise to the mutinous acts for which he was to suffer This man now apologised for the liberty he had taken, and said he would not detain me long. —  Frank Mildmay The Naval Officer
  • It was not probable that Top scented the presence of man, for in that case, he would have announced it by half-uttered, sullen, angry barks. —  The Secret of the Island
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

angry ·  dull ·  gloomy ·  surly ·  restless ·  haughty ·  suspicious ·  morose ·  resentful ·  furious
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman solein, alone, from sol, single, from Latin sōlus, by oneself alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English sollein, solein, soleyn, solain, from Old French solain (= Provencal solan), solitary, lonely; as a noun, a pittance for one person; from Middle Latin as if *solanus, from Latin solus, alone: see sole.
  2. from sullen, adjective
 

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/ˈsəlɛn/
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