Synonyms of sulky

sulky

adjective

ˈsəl-kē 

as in pouting

given to or displaying a resentful silence and often irritability

our teenage daughter turns sulky if we refuse to let her borrow the car

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pouting
• irritable
• sullen
• pouty
• surly
• glum
• brooding
• mopey
• morose
• petulant
• dour
• peevish
• cross
• grumpy
• sensitive
• irascible
• snappish
• waspish
• grouchy
• gloomy
• disagreeable
• pettish
• crotchety
• testy
• crabby
• choleric
• cranky
• snarky
• raspy
• cantankerous
• ornery
• dyspeptic
• snippy
• short-tempered
• bilious
• tetchy
• huffy
• ill-tempered
• temperamental
• ratty
• quick-tempered
• perverse
• moping
• prickly
• ill-humored
• ill-natured
• snappy
• touchy
• snippety
• bearish
• thin-skinned

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cheerful
• sociable
• cheery
• good-natured
• sunny
• perky
• carefree
• easygoing
• good-tempered
• relaxed
• good-humored
• gladsome
• happy-go-lucky

Synonym Chooser

How is the word sulky different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of sulky are crabbed, gloomy, glum, morose, saturnine, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

Where would crabbed be a reasonable alternative to sulky?

The words crabbed and sulky can be used in similar contexts, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When is gloomy a more appropriate choice than sulky?

While the synonyms gloomy and sulky are close in meaning, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

When can glum be used instead of sulky?

The words glum and sulky are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

How do morose and glum relate to one another, in the sense of sulky?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When would saturnine be a good substitute for sulky?

In some situations, the words saturnine and sulky are roughly equivalent. However, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

In what contexts can sullen take the place of sulky?

While in some cases nearly identical to sulky, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When could surly be used to replace sulky?

The synonyms surly and sulky are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sulky

Founder Max Siegelman drew upon his family’s harness racing roots thanks to the boarding and teaching facility for the sport involving the powerful animal, a sulky and human direction that dates to the 1800s in the US. —Roxanne Robinson, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

Harness racing was his first love, and during the next half-century, his name became synonymous with the sulky sport in Chicagoland. —Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune, 4 Aug. 2025

Just picture it: a Bond car chase reimagined as a slow, sulky glide through fog and existential dread. —Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 28 June 2025

There are towns such as Kardamyli, so lovely that Agamemnon offered it to sulky Achilles to lure him out of bed to fight the Trojan War. —Antonia Quirke, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 May 2024