Word.ws English Dictionary

Synonyms of dreary

55 similar words

Another word for dreary is depressing. Other synonyms of dreary are grim, melancholy, miserable, gloomy and sombre.

Synonyms and similar words for dreary

adjectiveDrab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.

  • bleakUnhappy; cheerless; miserable; emotionally desolate.
  • gloomySuffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.
  • cheerlessDevoid of cheer; gloomy.
  • comfortlessOf a thing: offering no comfort; uncomforting.
  • darkConducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
  • moroseSullen, gloomy; showing a brooding ill humour.
  • depressingCausing depression or sadness.
  • desolateDismal or dreary.
  • direExpressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal.
  • disconsolateCheerless, dreary.
  • dismalCausing despair; gloomy and bleak.
  • dolefulFilled with grief, mournful, bringing feelings of sadness.
  • dolesomeCharacterised or marked by sorrow and grief; doleful; dismal; gloomy.
  • drearDreary.
  • drearisomeCharacterised or marked by dreariness.
  • dreich UK, dialectalBleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
  • forlornPitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.
  • gaylessLacking gaiety; gloomy; somber; drab.
  • grayDreary, gloomy, cloudy.
  • gloomsomeCharacterised or marked by gloom.
  • grimDismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
  • joylessWithout joy; unhappy, sad.
  • lack-laughterCheerless; sombre; serious.
  • lugubriousGloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.
  • melancholyAffected with great sadness or depression.
  • mirthlessLacking mirth; devoid of joy; sad.
  • miserableOf the weather, extremely unpleasant due to being cold, wet, overcast, etc.
  • no joke
  • saturnineOf a setting: depressing, dull, gloomy.
  • somber
  • sombreDark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit.
  • spiritlessLacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.
  • sullenGloomy; dismal; foreboding.
  • sunlessDreary, cheerless.
  • uncheerfulNot cheerful.
  • uncheeryNot cheery; gloomy, pessimistic.
  • unhappy
  • unmerryNot merry, the opposite of merry; sad, gloomy.
  • wintryChilling, cheerless.
  • woeful
  • bland
  • colourless
  • dim
  • dingyDark, dull.
  • dull
  • faint
  • lackluster
  • leaden
  • muddy
  • sad figuratively
  • sober
  • uncolorfulNot colorful; dull or colorless.
  • unholidayGrim or drab; the antithesis of festive.
  • wan
  • solemn obsoleteCheerless, gloomy, sombre.

Meaning of dreary

  1. adjective Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
  2. adjective Grievous, dire; appalling.
  3. noun A dreary person or thing.

Full definition of dreary

dreary in other languages

Questions about synonyms of dreary

What is another word for dreary?
Dreary has 55 synonyms on Word.ws, such as depressing, grim, melancholy, miserable, gloomy, sombre, dingy and dire.
What does dreary mean?
Dreary means drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dreary (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “Synonyms of dreary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/dreary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.