Nearby Words

sullen

[suhl-uhn] Origin

sul·len

[suhl-uhn]
adjective
1.
showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve.
2.
persistently and silently ill-humored; morose.
3.
indicative of gloomy ill humor.
4.
gloomy or dismal, as weather or a sound.
5.
sluggish, as a stream.
EXPAND
6.
Obsolete. malignant, as planets or influences.
COLLAPSE

Origin:
1565–75; earlier solein, Middle English < ?

sul·len·ly, adverb
sul·len·ness, noun
un·sul·len, adjective
un·sul·len·ly, adverb


1. See cross. 1, 2. See glum. 2. sulky, moody, sour, bad-tempered. 4. cheerless, clouded, overcast, somber, mournful, dark. 5. slow, stagnant.


1, 2. cheerful.

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Sullen is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Collins
World English Dictionary
sullen (ˈsʌlən)
 
adj
1.  unwilling to talk or be sociable; sulky; morose
2.  sombre; gloomy: a sullen day
3.  literary sluggish; slow: a sullen stream
4.  obsolete threatening
 
n
5.  archaic (plural) a sullen mood
 
[C16: perhaps from Anglo-French solain (unattested), ultimately related to Latin sōlus alone]
 
'sullenly
 
adv
 
'sullenness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

sullen
1570s, alteration of M.E. soleyn "unique, singular," from Anglo-Fr. *solein, formed on the pattern of O.Fr. soltain, from O.Fr. soul "single" (see sole (2)). The sense shift in M.E. from "solitary" to "morose" occurred between about 1380 and 1400.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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