| / English Dictionary |
DREARY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: drearier , dreariest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Causing dejection
Example:
grim rainy weather
Synonyms:
blue; dark; dingy; disconsolate; dismal; drab; drear; dreary; gloomy; grim; sorry
Classified under:
Similar:
cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Derivation:
dreariness (extreme dullness; lacking spirit or interest)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
Example:
a series of dreary dinner parties
Synonyms:
drab; dreary
Classified under:
Similar:
dull (lacking in liveliness or animation)
Derivation:
dreariness (extreme dullness; lacking spirit or interest)
Context examples:
This world is pleasant—it would be dreary to be called from it, and to have to go who knows where?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
We had a dreary morning's work before us, for there was no sign of any wind, and the boats had to be got out and manned, and the ship warped three or four miles round the corner of the island and up the narrow passage to the haven behind Skeleton Island.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
One forlorn fragment of dollanity had belonged to Jo and, having led a tempestuous life, was left a wreck in the rag bag, from which dreary poorhouse it was rescued by Beth and taken to her refuge.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
We saw the cold winter sun rise over the dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of the river, which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in the earlier days of our career.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was too cold and too sleepy to be keenly observant, and not sleepy enough to betray my trust so altogether I had a dreary, miserable time.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
All this, I say, was wonderfully fine; but I must say, too, that there were times when it was very dreary.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
And it was a long, long night, weary and dreary and long.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The clatter of waters, the scream of the eagle, and the howling of wolves the only sounds which broke upon the silence in that dreary and inhospitable region.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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