sullen
/ˈsʌlən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.71 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
noun
Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring. Sullen and bored the kids stay / And in this way wish away each day"
- "a sullen atmosphere"
- "Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;"
- "He added not; and Satan bowing low / His gray diſſimulation, diſappear'd / Into thin Air diffuſ'd: for now began / Night with her ſullen wing to double-ſhade / The Deſert; Fowls in thir clay neſts were couch't; / And now wild Beaſts came forth the woods to roam."
Etymology
From Middle English soleyn, from Anglo-Norman soleyn (“alone”), from Old French sole (“single, sole, alone”), from Latin sōlus (“by oneself alone”). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
sullener (comparative)
sullenest (superlative)
sullens (plural)
sullens (present, singular)
sullening (participle, present)
sullened (participle, past)
sullened (past)