DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Sul·len a.
1. Lonely; solitary; desolate. [Obs.]
2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
Solemn hymns so sullen dirges change. --Shak.
3. Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
Such sullen planets at my birth did shine. --Dryden.
4. Gloomily angry and silent; cross; sour; affected with ill humor; morose.
And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast. --Prior.
5. Obstinate; intractable.
Things are as sullen as we are. --Tillotson.
6. Heavy; dull; sluggish. “The larger stream was placid, and even sullen, in its course.”
Syn: -- Sulky; sour; cross; ill-natured; morose; peevish; fretful; ill-humored; petulant; gloomy; malign; intractable.
Usage: Sullen, Sulky. Both sullen and sulky show themselves in the demeanor. Sullenness seems to be an habitual sulkiness, and sulkiness a temporary sullenness. The former may be an innate disposition; the latter, a disposition occasioned by recent injury. Thus we are in a sullen mood, and in a sulky fit.
No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows;
The dreaded east is all the wind that blows. --Pope.
-- Sul*len*ly, adv. -- Sul*len*ness, n.
sullenly
adv : in a sullen manner; "he sat in his chair dourly" [syn: dourly,
glumly]