sullen

Meanings

Adjective

• Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
• Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
• Sluggish; slow.
• Lonely; solitary; desolate.
• Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
• Obstinate; intractable.

Noun

• One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
• Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.

Related

Similar words

• sulky, morose

Opposite words

• cheerful
• content
• lighthearted
• pleased

Origin

• From Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman soleyn ("alone"), from Old French sole ("single, sole, alone"), from Latin sōlus ("by oneself alone"). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.