i Register
In some senses, sullen is marked as obsolete, archaic. Watch for register when choosing this word.
sullen
/ˈsʌlən/
adj 5noun 2verb 1
Collocations
4ADJ.
bored, grumpy, over, still, still, surly
VERB + SULLEN
became, hear, recurring
SULLEN + NOUN
bell, forsook, husband, lours, teenager, tom
PREP.
on
Definitions
adj
1
Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, / For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; / Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, / ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;
And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.
2
Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
a sullen atmosphere
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;
3
Sluggish; slow.
The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.
When ends life's transient dream, / when death’s cold, sullen stream / shall o'er me roll,
4
Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
Such sullen planets at my birth did shine, / They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine.
she meets again / The savage murderer's sullen gaze,
5
Obstinate; intractable.
Things are as sullen as we are, and will be what they are whatever we think of them.
noun
1
One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
He sit neither with seint Johan, / Symond ne Jude, / Ne with maydenes ne with martires, / Confessours ne wydewes; / But by hymself as a soleyn, / And served on erthe.
2
Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
And let them die that age and sullens have;
If she be not sick of the sullens, I see not the least infirmity in her.
verb
1
To make sullen.
The idle man is like the dumb jack in a virginal: while all the other dance out a winning music, this, like a member out of joint, sullens the whole body, with an ill disturbing laziness.
Thesaurus
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, / For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; / Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, / ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;
Wiktionary02
And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.
Wiktionary03
2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring. Sullen and bored the kids stay / And in this way wish away each day
Wiktionary04
He sit neither with seint Johan, / Symond ne Jude, / Ne with maydenes ne with martires, / Confessours ne wydewes; / But by hymself as a soleyn, / And served on erthe.
Wiktionary05
And let them die that age and sullens have;
Wiktionary06
If she be not sick of the sullens, I see not the least infirmity in her.
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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