Definition of DREARY

Examples of dreary in a Sentence

It was a gray, dreary morning.
The family struggled through dreary economic times.

Recent Examples of dreary from the Web

Rain and dreary weather dampened spirits in much of the Midwest and East on Sunday.

— john bacon, USA TODAY, "Surly Memorial Day weather lashing East, South", 28 May 2017
A Tuesday at lunch time in a dreary office building, breathing in recycled air and staring at the unanswered emails in your inbox—there is no better time for wanderlust.

— sebastian modak, CNT, "Kayak Just Made It Easier to Secretly Plan Your Vacation at Work", 31 Mar. 2017
But a display of late collages by Krasner, in the Paul Kasmin Gallery, here at the Art Show, is dreary; by the ’80s, her mélanges of shapes and stains had grown decidedly mannered.

— jason farago and martha schwendener, New York Times, "What to See at New York’s Art Fairs This Week", 2 Mar. 2017
The homeowners wanted to transform this space from closed and dreary to open and inviting.

— AJC.com, "66,023 Basement Design Photos", 6 Jan. 2017
Neither is ideal, especially if your purchase happens to be an exciting treat rather than a dreary necessity.

— dan ariely, WSJ, "Actually, Fast, Free Delivery Isn’t Always Better", 9 Nov. 2016
In our times, the skull has become a fashion accessory or an attempt at irony in dreary artworks.

— tom rachman, The New Yorker, "Meeting Death with Words", 25 Jan. 2016
The Skype ringtone sounded like a church bell tolling in a dreary village.

— Vogue, "How One Journalist Found Herself Courted by ISIS", 2 June 2015
But for those in the midst of fighting the Cold War—who worked in the national-security apparatus during the long, dreary decades when nuclear confrontation seemed abundantly possible—its end was hardly foreseeable.

— robert d. kaplan, The Atlantic, "In Defense of Henry Kissinger", 19 Feb. 2014

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dreary'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of dreary

Middle English drery, from Old English drēorig sad, bloody, from drēor gore; akin to Old High German trūrēn to be sad, Goth driusan to fall

First Known Use: before 12th century

dreary Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of dreary

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