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Dreary

//ˈdɹɪəɹi// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.

    "It had rained for three days straight, and the dreary weather dragged the townspeople's spirits down."

  2. 2
    Grievous, dire; appalling. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    causing dejection wordnet
  2. 2
    lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    A dreary person or thing. rare

    "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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

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