Standard Lemma guide

dreich

adj · noun · 14 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: /dɹiːk/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /dɹiːx/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /dɹik/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Scotland: /drix/
  • Ireland: /ðreː/
  • Ireland: /driːx/
  • rhymes with -iːk
  • rhymes with -iːx

1

adj

Meaning 1

Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, prolix, rigmarole, sesquipedalian, verbose, wordy

Antonyms: brief, concise, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, succinct, tight, to the point, taut, terse

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: banal, basic, beat, blah, commonplace, bland, boring, cold, colourless, corny, drab, stuffy, dreich, drowsy, dull, dull as dishwater, flat, heavy going, ho-hum, humdrum, insipid, lackluster, lame, languid, lifeless, longsome, monotonous, mundane, no fun at parties, plain, plodding, prosaic, prosy, pedantic, pedestrian, static, straightforward, snoozeworthy, soporific, tedious, uncool, wan, weaksauce, wooden, uninteresting, stodgy, vapid, vanilla

Antonyms: absorbing, alacrifying, awesome, banging, bracing, compelling, distracting, dramatic, edge-of-the-seat, engrossing, electric, electrifying, enlivening, enthralling, exciteful, exciting, exhilarating, exhilarative, explosive, fascinating, hair-curling, hair-raising, heady, heart-pounding, heartstopping, heartswelling, intoxicating, gripping, impressive, inspiring, invigorating, jiggy, kicky, mind-blowing, moving, off the chain, pulse-pounding, pulsating, rip-roaring, riveting, rousing, sensational, shocking, sizzling, slam-bang, spine-tingling, startling, stimulating, stirring, stonking, thrilling, thrilly, warm

3

adj

Meaning 3

Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreary, 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

4

adj

Meaning 4

suitably serious or solemn

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

of a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dilatory, tardy, crawling, slack, slow-moving, languid, languorous, draggy, creeping, dreich, gastropodous, glacial, heavy-footed, inching, inert, labored, leaden, lead-footed, lethargic, low-speed, lumbering, plodding, pokey, ponderous, slothlike, slow, slow as a snail, slow as Christmas, slow as molasses, slow as molasses in January, slowfooted, sluggish, stately, steady, subglacial, sullen, tardigrade, tedious, testudineous, torpid, turtleish, turtlesque, unspeedy

Antonyms: cursory, express, fast, expeditious, feverish, fleet, fleeting, greased lightning, hasty, hectic, hectical, hyperactive, immediate, lightning fast, nimble, post haste, precipitant, quick, quick as a flash, quicksome, rapid, speedful, speedy, spit-spot, swift, tripsome, zippy

7

adj

Meaning 7

Of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adj

Meaning 8

Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: burdensome, taxing, toilsome

Antonyms: none provided

9

adj

Meaning 9

Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: persistent, sustained, unceasing, unending, unremitting, amaranthine, solid, ceaseless, constant, continual, continuate, continuous, dreich, endless, eternal, everlasting, extended, incessant, incessive, infinite, never-ending, nonstop, ongoing, perpetual, relentless, steady, still, termless, unbroken, unintermitted, uninterrupted, lasting, permanent, successive, uniform

Antonyms: none provided

10

adj

Meaning 10

Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

adj

Meaning 11

Of a person: negotiating forcefully; driving a hard bargain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

adj

Meaning 12

Of a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

noun

Meaning 13

A tedious or troublesome task; also, the most tedious or troublesome part of a task.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland, countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

Bleakness, gloom; specifically, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.) weather.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Midlands, North, Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Scots dreich (“hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome; interminable, long-winded; dull, uninteresting; slow, tardy; doleful, gloomy; baffling, difficult; difficult to reach, inaccessible”), from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”) [and other forms], from Old English *drēog, drēoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly: * shortened from Old English ġedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective), from ġe- (prefix forming adjectives of association or similarity) + Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (“enduring, lasting”) (from *dreuganą (“to serve, be a retainer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhrewgh- (“to serve one’s tribe; loyal”)); and * influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above). The noun is probably partly derived: * from the adjective; and * borrowed from Scots dreich (“dreariness, gloom”) (rare), probably from Middle English dri, drie (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”) [and other forms], possibly from dri, drie (adjective) (see above). (Compare Old English ġedrēog (“seemliness; seriousness, sobriety; something appropriate or required”, noun), which did not survive into Middle English.) Cognates * German Low German drēg, drēge * Icelandic drjúgur (“ample; heavy, substantial; long”) * North Frisian drech * Old Danish drygh (modern Danish drøj (“heavy; solid, tough”)) * Old Swedish drygher (modern Swedish dryg (“ample, liberal; hard; large; lasting”)) * Saterland Frisian drjooch * Scots dreich * West Frisian dreech, drege (“extensive; long-lasting”)

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: suuri vaiva — tedious or troublesome task; most tedious or troublesome part of a task