Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Showing a brooding ill humor or silent resentment; morose or sulky.
- adj. Gloomy or somber in tone, color, or portent: sullen, gray skies.
- adj. Sluggish; slow: the sullen current of a canal.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
- adj. Dismal; somber.
- adj. Sluggish; slow.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Lonely; solitary; desolate.
- adj. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
- adj. Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
- adj. Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor; morose.
- adj. Obstinate; intractable.
- adj. Heavy; dull; sluggish.
- n. One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
- n. Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
- transitive v. To make sullen or sluggish.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Being alone; solitary; lonely; hence, single; unmarried.
- Being but one; unique; hence, rare; remarkable.
- Remaining alone through ill humor; unsociable; silent and cross; sulky; morose; glum.
- Gloomy; dismal; somber.
- Sad; sorrowful; melancholy.
- Slow-moving; sluggish; dull: as, a sullen pace.
- Malignant; unpropitious; foreboding ill; baleful.
- Synonyms Gloomy, Sullen, Sulky, Morose, Splenetic. These words are arranged in the order of their intensity and of their degrees of activity toward others. Gloomy has the figurative suggestion of physical gloom or darkness: the gloomy man has little brightness in his mind, or he sees little light ahead. The sullen man is silent because he is sluggishly angry and somewhat bitter, and he repels friendly advances by silence and a lowering aspect rather than by words. The sulky person persists in being sullen beyond all reason and for mere whim: the young are often sulky. In the morose man there is an element of hate, and he meets advances with rudeness or cruel words: the young have rarely development of character enough to be morose. The splenetic man is sulky and peevish, with frequent outbursts of irritation venting itself upon persons or things. Any of these words may indicate either a temporary mood or a strong tendency of nature.
- n. A solitary person; a recluse.
- n. plural Sullen feelings; sulks; sullenness.
- n. A meal for one person.
- To make sullen, morose, or sulky.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. showing a brooding ill humor
- adj. darkened by clouds
Etymologies
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.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman solein ("alone"), from sole ("single, sole, alone"), from Latin sōlus ("by oneself alone"). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English. (Wiktionary)
jboyd commented on the word sullen
A pointed example of usage in the sense of "solitary":
—Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), p. 42.
July 29, 2012
100000232338334 commented on the word sullen
"...Stupid vampires. Stupid dress code. I was Sullen, with a capital S." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris
February 5, 2011
agustinolvera commented on the word sullen
"Speaking of college applications, Edward, Charlie said, his tone even more sullen-he tried to avoid addressing Edward directly, and when he had to, it exacerbated his bad mood." Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer page19
October 4, 2010
bilby commented on the word sullen
In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
- Dylan Thomas, 'In My Craft or Sullen Art'.
October 12, 2009