ˈsələn adjective
( often -er/-est )
Etymology: earlier sollen, sollein, from Middle English solein, solain sullen, solitary, single, probably from Middle French solain (attested only in the sense of “food for a single person”), probably from (assumed) Vulgar Latin solanus, from Latin solus alone — more at sole
1.
a. : ill-humoredly unsociable : gloomily or resentfully silent or repressed
a sullen mood
a sullen crowd
the population sullen and impoverished — H.W.H.Knott
b. : relating to or indicative of a gloomy, resentful, or surly mood : suggesting a state of repressed anger
began collecting the remaining things with sullen hands — Dorothy M. Richardson
a sullen voluptuous mouth — Edmund Wilson
2. : obstinate , refractory , intractable
sullen oxen
3.
a. : of a dull color : of somber hue : lowering
a sullen sky
a chain of sullen clouds — Ellen Glasgow
the waves were sullen , heavier than usual — K.M.Dodson
b. : dull or deep of sound : of mournful tone
the sullen roar of a vast cataract — William Beckford
the sullen bawling of steers — Green Peyton
the sullen murmur of the bees — Oscar Wilde
4. : dismal , sad , melancholy
rain fell with a sullen splash — Marcia Davenport
5. : moving sluggishly and resentfully or as if resentfully
just a sullen line of men falling back — R.H.Newman
sullen rivers
Synonyms:
glum , morose , surly , sulky , crabbed , saturnine , dour , gloomy : sullen applies to gloomy ill-humored refusal to be sociable or responsive
her stolid exterior seemed to cloak a sullen resentment at the fact that she should be questioned at all — W.H.Wright
sitting till three in the morning, staring at the dead fire in sullen apathy — G.D.Brown
with sullen, defiant hatred still burning in their eyes — Robert Alden
glum indicates silent dismal dispiritedness
mutes at funerals could not look more glum than the domestics — W.M.Thackeray
a glum guitarist who stared lifelessly into the innards of his guitar — Time
morose describes bitter, cynical, or misanthropic uncommunicative ill humor
she has tempted him to drink again because he is so morose when he is sober that she cannot endure living with him — G.B.Shaw
in the keener moments of consciousness of his loneliness, she found him morose, until, unable to sing or laugh with the songs and laughter of that house, he came at times to believe he was morose himself — E.T.Thurston
surly applies to repelling churlish or rude sulkiness
the surly expression of an active boy detained within walls while other boys were shouting in the park — Gertrude Atherton
the family pictures glared at the spectator in the eyes like some surly animal, that had lost its good humor when it outlived its playfulness — Nathaniel Hawthorne
sulky may suggest a childish display of displeasure or resentment marked by sullen peevishness
stared at the newcomer with a sulky scowl, as much as to say, Who the devil are you — W.M.Thackeray
he was silent now, watching her with sulky, mistrustful eyes — Christine Weston
crabbed refers to accustomed, harsh, forbidding, morose crossness
an old crone who knew magic and could be asked for help, but who was apt to be crabbed and was best left alone — W.W.Howells
crabbed theologians involved in tenuous subtleties and disputing endlessly — V.L.Parrington
saturnine describes heavy forbidding taciturn gloom
the severe, skeptical eyes, the querulous eyebrows, the thin peevish lips, the big pedantic nose … display a saturnine master bore — D.B.W.Lewis
dour may describe uncommunicative grim obstinacy
drank in silence; when deep in his cups he became more and more dour and taciturn — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
the pleasure-loving Cavaliers were not sympathetic with the dour denials of enjoyment that prevailed in some of the other colonies — American Guide Series: Virginia
gloomy describes a cheerless, sullen, or melancholy depression of spirits
constitutionally gloomy, a congenital pessimist who always saw the doleful side of any situation — W.A.White
a heart full of gloomy forebodings, and a brain whirling with wild fancies — Charles Kingsley