Synonyms for dour
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Sullen — expressing gloom or melancholy
sullen, gloomy, grim, morose, glum, sour, moody, melancholic, dark, dejected, ill-natured, saturnine, lugubrious, dreary, bleak, cheerless, gruff, melancholy, mopey, dismal, surly, sulky
2. Harsh — stern, harsh and forbidding
harsh, stern, obstinate, austere, severe, hard, unyielding, tough, forbidding, cold, unfriendly, dogged, unmoved, strict, tenacious, persistent, pertinacious, unsympathetic, obdurate, hard-boiled, stiff, uncompromising
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Stern, harsh and forbidding.
- adj. 2
Expressing gloom or melancholy.
Related words
- Word family
- dourly
- Other spellings
- daur
Example sentences
- sour Those grapes look sweet, but in fact they're sour.
- melancholic She creates verses each time she's melancholic.
- glum Don't be so glum about it. Life has its ups and downs.
- austere The Wadden Sea is a landscape of austere beauty.
- obstinate I've heard that Tom and Mary are quite obstinate.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| dour | rising | |
| sour | rising | |
| melancholic | rising | |
| glum | rising | |
| morose | rising | |
| austere | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- hard1, dark1, cold1, sour2, grim1, glum1
- 5 letters
- tough1, harsh1, stern1, stiff1, moody2, bleak1, surly2, gruff1, sulky, mopey
- 6 letters
- severe2, strict1, gloomy2, dismal2, dreary2, dogged1, sullen2, morose2
- 7 letters
- austere2, unmoved2
- 8 letters
- stubborn2, dejected3, obdurate3
- 9 letters
- tenacious3, obstinate3, cheerless, saturnine
- 10 letters
- persistent3, melancholy4, forbidding3, unfriendly3, unyielding3, lugubrious4
- 11 letters
- melancholic4
- 12 letters
- pertinacious
- 13 letters
- unsympathetic5
- 14 letters
- uncompromising5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sour2 = 2 syllables).