steely

1 harsh and threatening in manner or appearance pinned them with a steely gaze and demanded to know what they were doing Synonyms austere, dour, fierce, flinty, forbidding, gruff, intimidating, lowering (also louring), rough, rugged, severe, stark, grim, stern, ungentleRelated Words bleak, cold, hostile, inhospitable, inimical, unfriendly, unsympathetic; adamant, bound, determined, firm, intent, purposeful, resolute, resolved, steadfast, unflinching; fixed, hard, hardened, hardheaded, immovable, implacable, inflexible, ironhanded, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rigid, self-willed, set, stiff, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful (or wilful); immutable, unchangeable; black, cheerless, dark, gloomy, glum, joyless, melancholic, moody, morose, sulky, sullen, surly; brooding, grave, humorless, melancholy, serious, sober, sobersided, solemn, somber (or sombre), staid, unsmiling, weightyNear Antonyms bland, meek, mellow, soft, soothing; easy, quiet, tranquil; agreeable, bright, cheerful, inviting, pleasant, pleasing, sweet; glad, happy, lighthearted, merry, mirthful, sunny; featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, giddy, goofy, harebrained, light-headed, playful, scatterbrained, sillyAntonyms benign, benignant, gentle, mild, nonintimidating, tender

2 of the color gray steely eyes that are the color of a stormy sky Synonyms argentine, grayish, leaden, pewter, silver, silvery, slate, slaty (also slatey), grayRelated Words achromatic, colorless, neutral; dirty, dull, faded, sad, washed-out; ashen, ashy, chalky, livid, mousy (or mousey), pale, palish, white, whitish; chocolate, dun, sandy, sepia; brindled (or brindle), grizzled, hoar, hoaryNear Antonyms ablaze, bright, deep, gay, rich; chromatic, colored; colorful, motley, multicolored, polychromatic, polychrome, varicolored, variegated