Antonyms for sullen
ˈsʌl ənsullen

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.0 / 4 votes

1. sullenadjective

   Antonyms:
   pleased, lighthearted, content, cheerful

   Synonyms:
   morose, sulky

2. sullenadjective

   Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased

   Synonyms:
   sulky, morose

3. sullenadjective

   Dismal; somber.

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, pleased, content, lighthearted

   Synonyms:
   sulky, morose

4. sullenadjective

   Sluggish; slow.

   Synonyms:
   sulky, morose

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 2 votes

1. sullen

   The sullen and sulky are discontented and resentful in regard to that against which they are too proud to protest, or consider all protest vain; sullen denotes more of pride, sulky more of resentful obstinacy. The morose are bitterly dissatisfied with the world in general, and disposed to vent their ill nature upon others. The sullen and sulky are for the most part silent; the morose growl out bitter speeches. A surly person is in a state of latent anger, resenting approach as intrusion, and ready to take offense at anything; thus we speak of a surly dog. Sullen and sulky moods may be transitory; one who is morose or surly is commonly so by disposition or habit.

   Antonyms:
   amiable, benignant, bland, complaisant, friendly, genial, gentle, good-natured, indulgent, kind, loving, mild, pleasant, sympathetic, tender

   Synonyms:
   acrimonious, churlish, crabbed, crusty, dogged, gloomy, gruff, ill-humored, ill-natured, morose, severe, snappish, sour, splenetic, sulky, surly

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.7 / 3 votes

1. sullen

   Antonyms:
   bright, light, cheerful, favorable, genial, kindly, glad, gladsome, blithe

   Synonyms:
   gloomy, heavy, dismal, foreboding, sulky, moody, lowering, cheerless

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:4.8 / 48 votes

1. dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullenadjective

   showing a brooding ill humor

   "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"- Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd"

   Antonyms:
   good-natured, clear

   Synonyms:
   pertinacious, heavy, forbidding, glum, dogged, dark, moody, non-white, temperamental, threatening, coloured, disconsolate, dark-skinned, black, gloomy, drear, benighted, off, blue, glowering, obscure, sour, sinister, turned, grim, saturnine, tenacious, off-key, dour, false, unyielding, sorry, drab, dingy, dreary, dismal, persistent, lowering, rancid, morose

2. heavy, lowering, sullen, threateningadjective

   darkened by clouds

   "a heavy sky"

   Antonyms:
   clear, good-natured

   Synonyms:
   ominous, laboured, laborious, overweight, toilsome, intemperate, forbidding, with child(p), sound, dark, wakeless, dense, grueling, dour, heavy(p), threatening, grave, cloggy, heavy(a), large(p), baleful, clayey, enceinte, minatory, menacing, grievous, glowering, fleshy, sour, weighed down, hard, weighty, impenetrable, gruelling, expectant, lumbering, ponderous, backbreaking, sonorous, great(p), profound, operose, saturnine, heavy, arduous, big(a), labored, moody, morose, punishing, glum, gravid, big(p), minacious, lowering, leaden, sinister

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sullenadjective

   Synonyms:
   morose, unamiable, sulky, intractable

How to use sullen in a sentence?

1. Willa Cather, My Antonia:

   Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

2. Lotte Akiko Nielsen:

   He came across as a sullen, scary and Terminator-ish type.

3. Percy Bysshe Shelley:

   Rough wind, that moanest loudGrief too sad for songWild wind, when sullen cloudKnells all the night longSad storm, whose tears are vain,Bare woods, whose branches strain,Deep caves and dreary main, - Wail, for the world's wrong

4. Claude T. Bissell:

   I prefer complexity to certainty, cheerful mysteries to sullen facts.

5. Willa Cather:

   Winter lies too long in country towns hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

How to pronounce sullen?

How to say sullen in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency