Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Hard; inflexible; obstinate; bold; hardy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Scot. Hard; inflexible; obstinate; sour in aspect; hardy; bold.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Stern, harsh and forbidding.
  • adjective Unyielding and obstinate.
  • adjective Expressing gloom or melancholy; sullenly unhappy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective showing a brooding ill humor
  • adjective harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
  • adjective stubbornly unyielding

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin dūrus ("hard, stern"), or possibly from Middle Irish dúr.

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Examples

  • In previous years, Arsenal were known as a dour, if effective, outfit, masters at eking out a 1-0 victory.

    Arsène Wenger: the blinkered visionary | Observer profile 2011

  • The gray people, as a friend of mine called the dour-looking youths of the downtown arts crowd, stuffed into the room on old folding chairs and splintering benches, everyone stepping carefully amid broken floorboards and keeping one wary eye on the wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling.

    Enemies: A Literary Love Story 1998

  • His sober replacement, Gordon Brown -- a man whose name rarely appears in print without the adjective "dour" -- is already more popular.

    Archive 2007-09-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • Don't just pull on your beer-stained jeans and set your scruffy mug on "dour" - show some pizzazz, some pep.

    Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local alex edgeworth 2010

  • This straight-faced stand-up comedian became nationally known as the dour, intellectual cop Detective Sergeant Dietrich on Barney Miller, and went on to a long career as a popular supporting comedy player, most recently seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

    Tallulah Morehead: Dead Folks 2010: Everyone's Pushing Up Roses Tallulah Morehead 2011

  • This straight-faced stand-up comedian became nationally known as the dour, intellectual cop Detective Sergeant Dietrich on Barney Miller, and went on to a long career as a popular supporting comedy player, most recently seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

    Tallulah Morehead: Dead Folks 2010: Everyone's Pushing Up Roses Tallulah Morehead 2011

  • Pianist Alexander Melnikov's brilliant new recording should convince any holdouts that Shostakovich's massive 150-minute set is far from what has occasionally been called dour and academic.

    On CD: Melnikov's Shostakovich 2010

  • Incidentally, her character has been described as dour and humourless in the first season of 'Space: 1999', but she became more playful in the second season.

    Archive 2009-06-21 Toby O'B 2009

  • Sorry to be dour, which is not my wont, but we are smack in the last quarter of what Murdoch's Wall Street Journal called "a wild year so far," and let me warn you to be happy with what you have -- just like I am.

    Richard Laermer: Get Ready, Kids; Time For Musical Chairs 2008

  • NEW YORK - Wendy's new CEO on Monday called the dour results of the past few years "self-inflicted wounds" and vowed to do better, laying...

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2012

Comments

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  • dour means absence of intellegence.Or absence of personality.

    September 22, 2008

  • It doesn't mean absence of intelligence. Wordnet definitions 3, 5 and 6 are about right.

    September 22, 2008

  • I tend to think of WordNet 5 and 6 when this word comes up.

    September 23, 2008

  • don't let the dour

    hit you in the ass

    November 6, 2009