as in chill
an uncomfortable degree of coolness
the morning bleakness prompted me to get a fire going
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of bleakness
While often unrelenting in its bleakness, Biutiful is made effective by Bardem's subtly heartbreaking performance, which earned him an Oscar nomination.
—
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
Banishing all of that bleakness, Hurts rolled right on third-and-goal and fit a 15-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Dallas Goedert between a layer of multiple defenders.
—Brooks Kubena, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2025
The long-view shtick works for a while, but the bleakness gets exhausting.
—Sam Lipsyte, Curbed, 15 Dec. 2025
The filmmaker instead evokes his earlier work—namely Dogtooth and The Killing of a Sacred Deer—combining the mannered, hermetic bleakness of those tales with the befuddled existentialism of a Samuel Beckett play.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2025
Wear it for snowy weekend strolls, festive city breaks, Christmas morning outings and all the way up until the icy bleakness of mid-March.
—Ellie Davis, Vogue, 28 Oct. 2025
The film, whose bleakness served as an inspiration for Nebraska, is based on the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, teenage lovers who committed a series of murders in 1958.
—Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 24 Oct. 2025
In Pynchon’s best works, his bleakness is brightened, in both senses—illuminated and made lighter—by the sweep of his vision and his affection for his fallible, foolhardy, well-meaning, wildly outmatched main characters.
—Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
The campaign has already exceeded its goal by more than $38,000 dollars, with six days to go, proving no amount of dystopian bleakness will deter true Black Mirror fans.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
Banishing all of that bleakness, Hurts rolled right on third-and-goal and fit a 15-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Dallas Goedert between a layer of multiple defenders.
—Brooks Kubena, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2025
The long-view shtick works for a while, but the bleakness gets exhausting.
—Sam Lipsyte, Curbed, 15 Dec. 2025
The filmmaker instead evokes his earlier work—namely Dogtooth and The Killing of a Sacred Deer—combining the mannered, hermetic bleakness of those tales with the befuddled existentialism of a Samuel Beckett play.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2025
Wear it for snowy weekend strolls, festive city breaks, Christmas morning outings and all the way up until the icy bleakness of mid-March.
—Ellie Davis, Vogue, 28 Oct. 2025
The film, whose bleakness served as an inspiration for Nebraska, is based on the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, teenage lovers who committed a series of murders in 1958.
—Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 24 Oct. 2025
In Pynchon’s best works, his bleakness is brightened, in both senses—illuminated and made lighter—by the sweep of his vision and his affection for his fallible, foolhardy, well-meaning, wildly outmatched main characters.
—Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
The campaign has already exceeded its goal by more than $38,000 dollars, with six days to go, proving no amount of dystopian bleakness will deter true Black Mirror fans.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bleakness
Noun
-
Its intelligent brake and reverse (iBR) system adds specific control when slowing down or maneuvering around objects or when docking, along with different ride modes that let the rider chill (or sharpen) the throttle response depending on conditions.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
14 Feb. 2026
-
So the question now for both Main Street retailers and Wall Street investors is whether the weather temporarily froze spending or exposed a deeper chill in consumer demand.—
Allie Canal,
NBC news,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Anger over the bloodshed now adds to the bitterness over the economy, which has been hollowed out by decades of sanctions, corruption and mismanagement.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Feb. 2026
-
The bright fragrant baking spice from Angostura Bitters is replaced with the deep earth of the Cynar whose bitterness brings a constant low hum, like engine noise on an airplane.—
Jeremy Repanich,
Robb Report,
14 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bleakness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bleakness. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
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