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
Example Sentences
Economy got you down? Provocateur Ehrenreich … says: Don't try cheering yourself up. … Her sharp, funny critique finds that sunny types don't necessarily live longer or better than grumps. Besides, can you really get rid of all negativity in your life? "It is not so easy," she notes, "to abandon the whiny toddler or the sullen teenager." Richard Eisenberg, People, 26 Oct. 2009The skies grew sullen and the air chillier, but it wasn't until the third day that the snow came. Bill Bryson, A Walk In The Woods, 1999Despite angry alumni calls and sullen students protests—including the cancellation of all fraternity parties at the school's annual Winter Carnival—the faculty unanimously voted in favor of the college's goal to make fraternities and sororities substantially coed, along with developing new social alternatives for its 4,300 undergraduates. Anita Hamilton, Time, 1 Mar. 1999sullen skies that matched our mood on the day of the funeralsullen and bored at his in-laws' house, he couldn't wait for the holidays to end
Recent Examples on the WebDespite the sullen mood among venture capitalists, early-stage startups have some reason for optimism.WIRED, 25 Aug. 2022 The blow is such that we're told a sullen Hamilton may or may not return for 2022. Steven Cole Smith, Car and Driver, 21 Aug. 2022 At different points in the story, Dezi is either a passionate and vital contributor to an up-and-coming jazz combo or a sullen crank coping with a lot of pain. Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2022 Another long-standing relationship was thus established: the sullen pride of salt-of-the-earth islanders rubbing up against the pretensions of summer folk. Rafil Kroll-zaidi, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022 One was the sullen sky and swampy feel of humid late July. Martin Weil, Washington Post, 30 July 2022 That was also a time of the sullen track superstar and an era marred by doping. Eddie Pells, ajc, 17 July 2022 The right-hander was informed by manager Craig Counsell, and a visiting clubhouse that had been a sullen place suddenly erupted in cheers as the news quickly spread. Todd Rosiak, Journal Sentinel, 17 July 2022 Multiple neighbors said Edwards didn’t appear sullen or defeated in the wake of the incident. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, 1 July 2022 See More
Word History
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