sullen

[ suhl-uhn ]

adjective

1. showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve.

   Antonyms: cheerful

2. persistently and silently ill-humored; morose.

   Synonyms: bad-tempered, cranky, sour, moody, sulky

   Antonyms: cheerful

3. indicative of gloomy ill humor.
4. gloomy or dismal, as weather or a sound.

   Synonyms: dark, mournful, somber, overcast, clouded, cheerless

5. sluggish, as a stream.

   Synonyms: slow, stagnant

6. Obsolete. malignant, as planets or influences.

sullen

/ ˈsʌlən /

adjective

1. unwilling to talk or be sociable; sulky; morose
2. sombre; gloomy

   a sullen day

3. literary.
   sluggish; slow

   a sullen stream

4. obsolete.
   threatening

noun

1. archaic.
   plural a sullen mood

Derived Forms

• ˈsullenly, adverb
• ˈsullenness, noun

Other Words From

• sul·len·ly adverb
• sul·len·ness noun
• un·sul·len adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sullen¹

First recorded in 1565–75; earlier sollen, solain, from Middle English solein(e), solain “sole, solitary, sullen,” possibly from Vulgar Latin sōlānus (unattested), from Latin sōlus “alone, only, single”

Word History and Origins

Origin of sullen¹

C16: perhaps from Anglo-French solain (unattested), ultimately related to Latin sōlus alone

Synonym Study

See cross. See glum.

Example Sentences

My students were sullen, off-task, unfocused, and wouldn’t talk to each other or to me.

From Voice of San Diego

Thursday was supposed to be the day we shelved all the sullen, sad reminders of the difficulties and tragedies of the past year, if only for three hours.

From Washington Post

There was the Michelin-starred restaurant where the somewhat sullen chef ruled dinner service by fear and intimidation.

From Eater

They waved you into the sullen parking garage on — sigh — your word alone.

From Washington Post

Hard and sullen, she barely bothers to conceal her misanthropy from the tourists who come into her shop, and maintains a near-reclusive distance from residents of the town.

From Washington Blade

The pro-Russian rebel militia remained sullen and hostile toward the monitors.

From The Daily Beast

Spring is a time of new beginnings, but in the years that followed, I became inward and sullen as those memories took me under.

From The Daily Beast

When the candidate was sullen and grumpy—which was often—he could read his mood and adjust the bubble accordingly.

From The Daily Beast

Strung out on a punishing regimen of diet pills, the once genial young man becomes a sullen, self-pitying wreck.

From The Daily Beast

Kristen Stewart was cast as Marylou at 17, before she played fair-skinned and often sullen Bella Swan in The Twilight series.

From The Daily Beast

They threw down their weapons with sullen obedience and the first great step towards the re-conquest of India was taken.

From Project Gutenberg

The boy, a trifle sullen since the last words, stood on the hearth with his back to the fire, his hands clasped behind him.

From Project Gutenberg

But for the trees, these sullen skies and level grounds would render England dreary enough.

From Project Gutenberg

But it was with sullen reluctance; and mutterings were to be heard, on all sides, that the time would come yet.

From Project Gutenberg

They made an odd procession as they marched out of the hall, under the sullen eyes of the baulked cut-throats and their mistress.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• churlish
• dour
• gloomy
• glum
• grumpy
• hostile
• morose
• petulant
• somber
• surly
• ugly