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