bleak

bleak

adjective

Definition of BLEAK

1

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer <a bleak outlook for the team for the rest of the season>

Synonyms black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched

Related Words blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful; dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting; desperate, hopeless, pessimistic; lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful; colorless, drab, dull; dour, grim, lowering (also louring), lowery (also loury), menacing, negative, oppressive, threatening

Near Antonyms blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful; encouraging, hopeful, optimistic; lighthearted, lightsome

Antonyms bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny

2

marked by wet and windy conditions <it was a dark and bleak wintry day>

Synonyms bleak, dirty, inclement, nasty, raw, rough, squally, stormy, tempestuous, turbulent

Related Words blowy, blustering, blustery, breezy, gusty, windblown, windswept; cloudy, overcast, sunless; rainy, snowy; foggy, hazy, misty, murky, soupy

Near Antonyms rainless; balmy, calm, halcyon, peaceful, placid, pleasant, serene

Antonyms bright, clear, clement, cloudless, fair, sunny, sunshiny, unclouded

3

uncomfortably cool <a bleak December morning>

Synonyms bitter, bleak, chill, chilling, nipping, nippy, raw, sharp

Related Words bracing, brisk, crisp, invigorating, rigorous, snappy; arctic, bitter, cold, coolish, freezing, frigid, frosty, glacial, ice-cold, icy, numbing, polar, shivery, wintry (also wintery); subfreezing, subzero; frore, frosted, frozen, iced, refrigerated, unheated

Near Antonyms balmy, warm; lukewarm, tepid; heated, warmed