dourness

noun

Definition of dournessnext
as in gruffness

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dourness April’s showers have brought not flowers to the Reds, but dourness. — C. Trent Rosecrans, New York Times, 7 May 2026 With its single Xenomorph antagonist, its cramped environment, and its fairly helpless cast of characters, a video-game adaptation sounds like an exercise in pure dourness. — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2025 But the music constantly resists her dourness. — Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dourness
  1. gruffness
  2. obduracy
  3. callousness
Noun
  • Mackay and Turner are both excellent, two movie stars who seem totally game to be asked to move with real gruffness.
    — Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 17 June 2026
  • But then Popper smiled and the arrival of opening day momentarily mellowed his gruffness.
    — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Definition of gruffness
Noun
  • Perhaps the greatest testament to Morocco’s obduracy came late in normal time, when Rodri — a central midfielder being deployed as a central defender — strode forward and shot, more in hope than in expectation, from 35 yards.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 6 Dec. 2022
  • But a year later, more than two dozen of them remain stuck in Afghanistan, stalled by bureaucratic wrangling, the vagaries of international diplomacy and the obduracy of the Taliban government.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2022
Definition of obduracy
Noun
  • Simon’s self-righteous callousness warranted a rebuke, but the rebuke provided Simon the opportunity to see the situation more clearly, to repent, and to love more going forward.
    — Eric Bashor, Christian Science Monitor, 13 July 2026
  • Before leaders such as Cox and Warnock were on the national stage, Hogan’s pragmatism, steady leadership and independence kept a better version of politics alive even as our public culture raced toward callousness and cruelty.
    — Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 8 July 2026
Definition of callousness

Browse Nearby Words

dourly
dourness
douse
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dourness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dourness. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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