adj
Meaning 1
Stern, harsh and forbidding.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: forbidding, harsh, severe, stern
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
dour
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdʊə/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdaʊə/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ˈdʊɹ/
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General-American: /ˈdaʊɚ/
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General-American: /ˈdaʊ.ɚ/
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Scotland: /ˈdur/
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rhymes with -aʊə(ɹ)
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rhymes with -ʊə(ɹ)
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homophone: Daur
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homophone: doer
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homophone: door
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homophone: dower (some speakers)
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CMU ARPABET: D AW1 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: D AW1 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Unyielding and obstinate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: stubborn
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Expressing gloom or melancholy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dejected, gloomy, melancholic, sullen
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Alternative form of daur.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
showing a brooding ill humor- Bruce Bliven
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a dark scowl
- the proverbially dour New England Puritan
- a glum, hopeless shrug
- he sat in moody silence
- a morose and unsociable manner
- a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius
- a sour temper
- a sullen crowd
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dark, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullen
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance- J.M.Barrie
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a dour, self-sacrificing life
- a forbidding scowl
- a grim man loving duty more than humanity
- undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: forbidding, grim
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 7
stubbornly unyielding- T.S.Eliot
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- dogged persistence
- dour determination
- the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics
- a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it
- men tenacious of opinion
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dogged, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, unyielding
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots dour, possibly from Latin dūrus (“hard, stern”), via Middle Irish dúr. Compare French dur, Catalan dur, Italian duro, Portuguese duro, Romanian dur, Spanish duro. Doublet of dure.
Across languages
Translations
92 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: строг (strog) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Bulgarian: суров (surov) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Czech: přísný — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Dutch: afschrikwekkend — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Esperanto: aǔstera — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Esperanto: severa — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Finnish: tyly — stern, harsh and forbidding
- French: sévère — stern, harsh and forbidding
- French: austère — stern, harsh and forbidding
- French: dur — stern, harsh and forbidding
- French: rigoriste — stern, harsh and forbidding
- French: rigoureux — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Galician: severo — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Galician: rigoroso — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Galician: rigorista — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: mürrisch — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: rau — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: verdrießlich — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: griesgrämig — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: unwirsch — stern, harsh and forbidding
- German: abweisend — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Italian: austero — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Italian: severo — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Italian: arcigno — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Italian: rigoroso — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Māori: taimaha — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Polish: srogi — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Polish: surowy — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Portuguese: duro — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Portuguese: rígido — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Russian: стро́гий (strógij) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Russian: суро́вый (suróvyj) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Spanish: severo — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Spanish: austero — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Spanish: duro — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Spanish: rigorista — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Spanish: riguroso — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Ukrainian: суворий (suvoryj) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Ukrainian: строгий (strohyj) — stern, harsh and forbidding
- Czech: zarputilý — unyielding and obstinate
- Dutch: onverbiddelijk — unyielding and obstinate
- Finnish: itsepäinen — unyielding and obstinate
- French: rigide — unyielding and obstinate
- French: inflexible — unyielding and obstinate
- French: obstiné — unyielding and obstinate
- French: entêté — unyielding and obstinate
- French: têtu — unyielding and obstinate
- German: unnachgiebig — unyielding and obstinate
- German: halsstarrig — unyielding and obstinate
- German: starrköpfig — unyielding and obstinate
- German: störrisch — unyielding and obstinate
- Italian: rigido — unyielding and obstinate
- Italian: indeflessibile — unyielding and obstinate
- Italian: inflessibile — unyielding and obstinate
- Italian: ostinato — unyielding and obstinate
- Polish: uparty — unyielding and obstinate
- Polish: nieustępliwy — unyielding and obstinate
- Russian: непрекло́нный (nepreklónnyj) — unyielding and obstinate
- Spanish: rígido — unyielding and obstinate
- Spanish: inflexible — unyielding and obstinate
- Spanish: obstinado — unyielding and obstinate
- Spanish: terco — unyielding and obstinate
- Spanish: despiadado — unyielding and obstinate
- Bulgarian: мрачен (mračen) — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Bulgarian: намусен (namusen) — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Catalan: depriment — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Czech: zasmušilý — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Dutch: stuurs — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Finnish: alakuloinen — expressing gloom or melancholy
- French: morose — expressing gloom or melancholy
- French: taciturne — expressing gloom or melancholy
- French: mélancolique — expressing gloom or melancholy
- French: lugubre — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Galician: lúgubre — expressing gloom or melancholy
- German: düster — expressing gloom or melancholy
- German: dumpf — expressing gloom or melancholy
- German: trist — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Italian: tetro — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Italian: triste — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Italian: lugubre — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Italian: cupo — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Māori: tukumaru — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Māori: pōkēkē — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Māori: whakarikiriki — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Polish: ponury — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Polish: posępny — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Russian: мра́чный (mráčnyj) — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Spanish: lúgubre — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Spanish: taciturno — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Spanish: melancólico — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Ukrainian: понурий (ponuryj) — expressing gloom or melancholy
- Ukrainian: похмурий (poxmuryj) — expressing gloom or melancholy