bleak

adjective

ˈblēk 

bleaker; bleakest

1

: exposed and barren and often windswept

a bleak landscape

bleak soils

2

: cold, raw

a bleak November evening

3

a

: lacking in warmth, life, or kindliness : grim

a bleak prison documentary

b

: not hopeful or encouraging : depressing

a bleak prognosis

a bleak outlook

the future looks bleak

c

: severely simple or austere

a bleak hotel room

bleakly adverb

bleakness noun

Synonyms

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

Choose the Right Synonym for bleak

dismal, dreary, bleak, gloomy, cheerless, desolate mean devoid of cheer or comfort.

dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

Examples of bleak in a Sentence

a bleak outlook for the team for the rest of the season

it was a dark and bleak wintry day

Recent Examples on the Web

During that bleak era, Che-Chung Tsai, a researcher at the University of Washington, contacted several companies, seeking experimental drugs for use in an animal study. —Jon Cohen, New Yorker, 24 June 2025

That said, Google’s latest survey paints a bleak picture. —Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 23 June 2025

What a bleak, cynical approach to governance, one that fails to address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability in society. —Sonia Ossorio, New York Daily News, 21 June 2025

Later star, Cillian Murphy, and screenwriter Alex Garland, Boyle set his sights on the heavens, telling one of the bleakest sci-fi stories of this century. —Tim Grierson, Vulture, 20 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English bleke pale; probably akin to Old English blāc

First Known Use

1574, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for bleak

• beak
• beek
• cheek
• chic
• clique
• creak
• creek
• eke
• freak
• geek
• greek
• leak

Kids Definition

bleak

adjective

ˈblēk 

1

: open to wind or weather

a bleak coast

2

: cold entry 1 sense 1, raw

a bleak November evening

3

: dreary, cheerless

the future looks bleak

4

: very plain

bleakly adverb

bleakness noun