sullen

adjective sul·len \ ˈsə-lən \

Definition of sullen

1 a :gloomily or resentfully silent or repressed

a sullen crowd

b :suggesting a sullen state :lowering

a sullen countenance

2 :dull or somber in sound or color

3 :dismal, gloomy

a sullen morning

4 :moving sluggishly

a sullen river

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sullenly

adverb

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sullenness

play \ˈsə-lə(n)-nəs\ noun

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See sullen defined for kids

Examples of sullen in a Sentence

Economy got you down? Provocateur Ehrenreich … says: Don't try cheering yourself up. … Her sharp, funny critique finds that sunny types don't necessarily live longer or better than grumps. Besides, can you really get rid of all negativity in your life? "It is not so easy," she notes, "to abandon the whiny toddler or the sullen teenager." —Richard Eisenberg, People, 26 Oct. 2009
The skies grew sullen and the air chillier, but it wasn't until the third day that the snow came. —Bill Bryson, A Walk In The Woods, 1999
Despite angry alumni calls and sullen students protests—including the cancellation of all fraternity parties at the school's annual Winter Carnival—the faculty unanimously voted in favor of the college's goal to make fraternities and sororities substantially coed, along with developing new social alternatives for its 4,300 undergraduates. —Anita Hamilton, Time, 1 Mar. 1999
sullen skies that matched our mood on the day of the funeral
sullen and bored at his in-laws' house, he couldn't wait for the holidays to end

Recent Examples of sullen from the Web

Because things like this transcend sullen teenage boredom, whiny childish antsy-ness and stressful grownup busyness.

— amy schwabe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Total eclipse of the sun, or How I spent my summer vacation," 25 Aug. 2017
Dane DeHaan plays Valerian, a sullen law enforcement major assigned to keep peace in the human districts of the space heap known as Alpha.

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' review: DeHaan, Cara Delevingne on a mangled quest," 20 July 2017
He was surrounded by a group of sour, sullen characters; manager John McNamara, who occasionally got caught dozing in the dugout, was very nearly paranoid by season’s end, and this was a team that had won a pennant.

— charles p. pierce, SI.com, "David Price should look at Red Sox history and see why battling Boston's media won't work," 14 July 2017
Trump, at the time, was developing a sullen moxie that rivaled Cohn’s.

— marie brenner, The Hive, "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America," 4 July 2017
Trump, at the time, was developing a sullen moxie that rivaled Cohn’s.

— marie brenner, The Hive, "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America," 4 July 2017
Trump, at the time, was developing a sullen moxie that rivaled Cohn’s.

— marie brenner, The Hive, "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America," 4 July 2017
Trump, at the time, was developing a sullen moxie that rivaled Cohn’s.

— marie brenner, The Hive, "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America," 4 July 2017
But sullen resentment of mainland China has spread as Hong Kong’s democratic evolution has stalled.

— keith bradsher, The Seattle Times, "20 years after Chinese takeover, Hong Kong no longer shining star," 29 June 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of sullen

Middle English solein solitary, from Anglo-French sulein, solain, perhaps from sol, soul single, sole + -ain after Old French soltain solitary, private, from Late Latin solitaneus, ultimately from Latin solus alone

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First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

sullen Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of sullen

sullen, glum, morose, surly, sulky, crabbed, saturnine, gloomy mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood. sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.