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Synonyms for dreary

Grammar : Adj
Spell : dreer-ee
Phonetic Transcription : ˈdrɪər i

Top 10 synonyms for dreary
Other synonyms for the word dreary

Définition 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

Antonyms for dreary

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