sulen

Adjective

sullen (comparative sullener, superlative sullenest)

1. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
   • Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, / For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; / Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, / ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

   Synonyms:

   sulky, morose, broody

   Antonyms:

   cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased

2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
   • a sullen atmosphere

   Synonyms:

   forlorn, melancholy, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire

3. Sluggish; slow.
   • The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London...

   Synonyms:

   ponderous, stately, crawling, slack, slow-moving, languid, languorous, draggy, tardy, creeping

4. (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
   • Such sullen planets at my birth did shine, / They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

   Synonyms:

   malevolent, ominous, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful

5. (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.
   • Things are as sullen as we are, and will be what they are whatever we think of them.a. 1694, John Tillotson, Imprudence of Atheism

   Synonyms:

   inflexible, persistent, adamant, ardent, grim, untiring, bent on, bloody-minded, bullheaded, certain

See all 8 meanings of sullen