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bleakest

 - 3 dictionary results

bleak

1  [bleek]
Use bleakest in a Sentence
–adjective, -er, -est.
1. bare, desolate, and often windswept: a bleak plain.
2. cold and piercing; raw: a bleak wind.
3. without hope or encouragement; depressing; dreary: a bleak future.
Origin:
1300–50; ME bleke pale, b. variants bleche (OE blǣc) and blake (OE blāc); both c. ON bleikr, G bleich; akin to bleach

Related forms:
bleakish, adjective
bleakly, adverb
bleakness, noun

Synonyms:
3. See austere.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bleakest
bleak 1   (blēk)   
adj.   bleak·er, bleak·est

    1. Gloomy and somber: "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult" (John Millington Synge).

    2. Providing no encouragement; depressing: a bleak prospect.

  2. Cold and cutting; raw: bleak winds of the North Atlantic.

  3. Exposed to the elements; unsheltered and barren: the bleak, treeless regions of the high Andes.


[Middle English bleik, pale, from Old Norse bleikr, white; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
bleak'ly adv., bleak'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bleak 
c.1300, from O.N. bleikr "pale" (see bleach). Sense of "cheerless" is c.1719 figurative extension. The same Gmc. root produced the O.E. blac "pale," but this died out, probably from confusion with blæc "black;" but bleikr persisted, with a sense of "bare" as well as "pale."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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