adj.
Pronunciation: ' s ə -l ə n
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English solein solitary, from Anglo-French sulein, solain, perhaps from sol, soul single, sole + - ain after Old French soltain solitary, private, from Late Latin solitaneus, ultimately from Latin solus alone
Date: 14th century
1 a : gloomily or resentfully silent or repressed <a sullen crowd> b : suggesting a sullen state : LOWERING <a sullen countenance>
2 : dull or somber in sound or color
3 : DISMAL , GLOOMY <a sullen morning>
4 : moving sluggishly <a sullen river>
– sul · len · ly adverb
– sul · len · ness \ ' s ə -l ə (n)-n ə s \ noun
synonyms SULLEN , GLUM , MOROSE , SURLY , SULKY , CRABBED , SATURNINE , GLOOMY mean showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood. SULLEN implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable <remained sullen amid the festivities>. GLUM suggests a silent dispiritedness <a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat>. MOROSE adds to GLUM an element of bitterness or misanthropy < morose job seekers who are inured to rejection>. SURLY implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner <a typical surly teenager>. SULKY suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness <grew sulky after every spat>. CRABBED applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner <the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster>. SATURNINE describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition <a saturnine cynic always finding fault>. GLOOMY implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness <a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news>.