Standard Lemma guide

dreary

adj · noun · 5 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.

  • Australian, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdɹɪəɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈdɹɪɹi/ General American, mirror–nearer merger
  • US: mirror-nearer Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈdɹɪɚi/ without the mirror–nearer merger
  • US: /ˈdɹiɹi/ without the mirror–nearer merger
  • Scotland: /ˈdɹiɹɪ/
  • Scotland: /ˈdɹiɹe/
  • New-Zealand: /ˈdɹiəɹi/
  • /ˈdɹɛːɹi/ East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
  • rhymes with -ɪəɹi
  • CMU ARPABET: D R IH1 R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • It had rained for three days straight, and the dreary weather dragged the townspeople's spirits down.
  • Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bleak, gloomy, cheerless, comfortless, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreary, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, grim, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, miserable, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful, bland, colourless, dim, dingy, dull, faint, lackluster, leaden, muddy, sad, sober, uncolorful, unholiday, wan

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Grievous, dire; appalling.

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

noun

Meaning 3

A dreary person or thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: rare

Examples

  • In the glow of this project Steele manages to forget altogether the parade of donnish and scholastic drearies, the barricades of schoolbooks, texts, examinations with which he has dealt so faithfully.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

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, drear

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her drab personality
  • life was drab compared with the more exciting life style overseas
  • a series of dreary dinner parties

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: drab

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrigr (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: trishtë — drab
  • Bulgarian: тъжен (tǎžen) — drab
  • Bulgarian: мрачен (mračen) — drab
  • Czech: šedivý — drab
  • Czech: pochmurný — drab
  • Czech: chmurný — drab
  • Czech: ponurý — drab
  • Czech: depresivní — drab
  • Dutch: bleek — drab
  • Dutch: lusteloos — drab
  • Esperanto: malgaja — drab
  • Finnish: ankea — drab
  • Finnish: surkea — drab
  • French: terne — drab
  • French: insipide — drab
  • French: maussade — drab
  • German: öde — drab
  • German: trostlos — drab
  • German: trüb — drab
  • German: freudlos — drab
  • Hungarian: komor — drab
  • Hungarian: rideg — drab
  • Hungarian: borús — drab
  • Hungarian: borongós — drab
  • Hungarian: bús — drab
  • Hungarian: búskomor — drab
  • Hungarian: bánatos — drab
  • Hungarian: búbánatos — drab
  • Hungarian: barátságtalan — drab
  • Hungarian: örömtelen — drab
  • Hungarian: sivár — drab
  • Hungarian: kietlen — drab
  • Hungarian: kopár — drab
  • Icelandic: drungalegur — drab
  • Irish: dearóil — drab
  • Italian: melanconico — drab
  • Italian: malinconico — drab
  • Japanese: 荒涼とした (kouryoutoshita) — drab
  • Japanese: わびしい (wabishii) — drab
  • Māori: takeo — drab
  • Middle English: drery — drab
  • Middle English: dregh — drab
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dyster — drab
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: dyster — drab
  • Old English: wynleas — drab
  • Portuguese: melancólico — drab
  • Romanian: tern — drab
  • Romanian: insipid — drab
  • Romanian: mosad — drab
  • Romanian: trist — drab
  • Romanian: melancolic — drab
  • Russian: мра́чный (mráčnyj) — drab
  • Russian: тоскли́вый (tosklívyj) — drab
  • Russian: печа́льный (pečálʹnyj) — drab
  • Russian: гру́стный (grústnyj) — drab
  • Russian: безотра́дный (bezotrádnyj) — drab
  • Russian: му́торный (mútornyj) — drab
  • Spanish: aburrido — drab
  • Spanish: triste — drab
  • Swedish: trist — drab
  • Swedish: dyster — drab
  • Ottoman Turkish: آجی (acı) — drab