Standard Lemma guide

drear

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /dɹɪə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /dɹɪɚ/
  • General-American: /dɹɪɹ/
  • New-Zealand: /dɹiə/
  • Scotland: /dɹiːɹ/
  • /dɹɛː/ East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)

1

adj

Meaning 1

Dreary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: literary, poetic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bleak, dreary, cheerless, comfortless, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, gloomy, grim, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, miserable, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Gloom; sadness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

causing dejection

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a blue day
  • the dark days of the war
  • a week of rainy depressing weather
  • a disconsolate winter landscape
  • the first dismal dispiriting days of November
  • a dark gloomy day
  • grim rainy weather

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, dreary

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Shortening of dreary.

Back-formation from dreary. Compare greed.