1
as in somber
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
sullen skies that matched our mood on the day of the funeral
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pouting
given to or displaying a resentful silence and often irritability
sullen and bored at his in-laws' house, he couldn't wait for the holidays to end
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sullen
He’s been sullen all day, sunk in his collar, his face disdainful.
—
David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, Malcolm is only getting drunker and more sullen as the reception progresses.
—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 10 Oct. 2025
The President is a sullen bore, but Servillo’s performance is always a hair less moribund than the movie around it, and held tight by the sincerity of his ambivalence.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 27 Aug. 2025
Until the UFOs arrive, the sullen grandeur of OK Computer will have to suffice for Yorke, and the rest of us, too.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sullen
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sullen
Adjective
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With so many comedy writers on the bill, the Broder tribute was no somber affair.—
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As is tradition, all the women were dressed in black ensembles to mark the somber occasion, which commemorates members of the military from Britain and the Commonwealth who have died in battle.—
Adjective
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Her family later learned that on April 23, 2021 — the day Parker found his aunt in a bleak mood — Dee had an angry confrontation over financial issues with two employees of the trucking company.—
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Some of Tarr’s most memorable scenes feature landscapes, often bleak and despairing settings of decaying Hungarian towns, punctuated with close-ups of characters’ faces.—
Adjective
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Some of the consequences of owing your body sleep are readily apparent, like feeling drowsy, irritable, or brain-foggy, or catching seemingly every virus.—
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Accompanying Rayner through these daily adventures were the irritable duck Chelveston (named after his English bomber base) and the gentle dog puppet Cuddly Dudley.—
Adjective
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The patient thriller finds Agnes lonely in her seedy motel, with a phone that often rings, though the person on the other end of the line never speaks.—
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Namir Smallwood stars opposite Coon as Peter, a paranoid former soldier and mysterious drifter who meets her character Agnes, a lonely waitress.—
Adjective
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After a strange courtship ritual—in which, as a favor to Liveright, Cerf accompanied the writer Theodore Dreiser to an afternoon baseball game that the latter man, bored, sulky, whisked them from around the sixth inning—Cerf took the job.—
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Still, Ortega’s performance proves that sulky, baleful gravity doesn’t have to lose its strange luster over time (a third season has already been announced).—
Adjective
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During high-stress situations, accepting negative emotions rather than avoiding them can reduce depressive symptoms.—
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During high-stress situations, accepting negative emotions rather than avoiding them can reduce depressive symptoms.—
Adjective
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Everyone is welcoming and warm—other than a free-roaming ostrich, curious and slightly surly, which keeps skittish guard over the entire site.—
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Remember how in 2023 when swarms of these surly, entitled freeloaders suddenly materialized – in Terminal E, of all places.—
Adjective
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Don't feel afraid to play with bold (but dark) colors and various materials.—
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Open my soul to the vast dark places.—
Cite this Entry
“Sullen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sullen. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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