1
as in bleak
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
it was a drear morning in January when I went to take my driving test
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sad
causing unhappiness
a barren and drear existence in a remote village
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in moroseness
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drear
Adjective
-
For two teens unable to use their legs, the future was especially bleak.—
Nicole Acevedo,
NBC news,
7 Mar. 2026 -
So what’s to be done when things look bleak?—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In a weirdly serendipitous bit of cinema news, Billie Eilish—queen of melancholy pop—is turning her sad eyes to Sylvia Plath.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Resident reactions Some residents are sad to see the cemetery go.—
Briah Lumpkins,
Charlotte Observer,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Gary is a lonely, unassuming postal worker who loves the Counting Crows.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Its 1959 Googie-style sign pierces the sky, a beacon of hope for weary road-trippers cruising this achingly lonely stretch of highway.—
Zoey Goto,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The aggression with which both parties have worked to manipulate district lines—while loudly inveighing against the other party for doing the exact same thing—is cynical and depressing.—
Ian Crouch,
New Yorker,
4 Mar. 2026
-
The case exposed the depressing banality of it all—the man smiling politely at you at the bakery, only to rape your comatose body at night.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But with LeBron James finally showing his age, and in no position to say no to someone like Dončić, the Lakers have gone all-in on the kid from Ljubljana, and the ennui that’s surrounding the team is palpable even in Northern California.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Both the Times of London and the Daily Telegraph reviewed Newman’s book poorly, with an air of anti-woke ennui, accusing her of imposing contemporary moral standards on the vices of the past.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
16 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Police released an image captured from a surveillance video showing a person wearing dark clothes and a backpack, with their face covered.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Mar. 2026
-
But the late-Baroque facade of the building conceals a special, darker history, one that reflects persistent political and legal problems for the bank thousands of miles away, in the US.—
Hugo Miller,
Bloomberg,
10 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, the notes turn out to mostly be about her as well as the principal (played by Gosling), detailing their most pathetic behaviors.—
Ben Rosenstock,
Vulture,
8 Mar. 2026
-
The pathetic leaks didn’t work.—
Lea Veloso,
StyleCaster,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
What would be lost in the red-white-and-blue tedium gives Venezuela an instantly identifiable characteristic.—
Johnny Flores Jr,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2026
-
Most scenes are shot from a fixed camera position, which can accentuate the level of tedium when there’s not much happening.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Drear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drear. Accessed 13 Mar. 2026.
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