Antonyms for dreary

Grammar : Adj

Spell : dreer-ee

Phonetic Transcription : ˈdrɪər i

Definition of dreary

Origin : Old English dreorig "sad, sorrowful," originally "cruel, bloody, blood-stained," from dreor "gore, blood," from (ge)dreosan (past participle droren) "fall, decline, fail," from West Germanic *dreuzas (cf. Old Norse dreyrigr "gory, bloody," and more remotely, German traurig "sad, sorrowful"), from PIE root *dhreu- "to fall, flow, drip, droop" (see drip (v.)).
The word has lost its original sense of "dripping blood." Sense of "dismal, gloomy" first recorded 1667 in "Paradise Lost," but Old English had a related verb drysmian "become gloomy."

adj gloomy, lifeless

Example sentences :

He found the district to the north to be a dreary waste, destitute of food and water.
Extract from : « Explorations in Australia » by John Forrest

There was the dreary monotone of crushed hope in Porter's voice as he spoke.
Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser

I have one dreary, cold room, as unlike this as two rooms can be.
Extract from : « Quaint Courtships » by Various

All was deep, dreary darkness, but Siegfried had not learned fear.
Extract from : « Opera Stories from Wagner » by Florence Akin

The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest.
Extract from : « The Devil's Dictionary » by Ambrose Bierce

She looked around the room: what an ugly, dreary little room it was!
Extract from : « Tip Lewis and His Lamp » by Pansy

There was need of encouragement on the threshold of the bridge, for the bridge was dreary.
Extract from : « The Uncommercial Traveller » by Charles Dickens

There are no dreary sights; there are only dreary sightseers.
Extract from : « Alarms and Discursions » by G. K. Chesterton

I woke early on the Sunday morning, and a most dreary morning it was.
Extract from : « Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood » by George MacDonald

He was now a solitary man, and the heart within him was dreary and lonesome.
Extract from : « Barnaby Rudge » by Charles Dickens

Synonyms for dreary

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019