sullen

Etymology

From Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman soleyn (“alone”), from Old French sole (“single, sole, alone”), from Latin sōlus (“by oneself alone”). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sŭlʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈsʌlən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlən
• Hyphenation: sul‧len

Adjective

sullen (comparative sullener, superlative sullenest)

1. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.

   Synonyms: sulky, morose, broody; see also Thesaurus:sullen

   Antonyms: cheerful, content, lighthearted, pleased

   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis:

     Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, / For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; / Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, / ‘Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale;

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure:

     And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.

   • 2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring.

     Sullen and bored the kids stay / And in this way wish away each day

2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.

   Synonyms: forlorn, melancholy; see also Thesaurus:cheerless, Thesaurus:sad

   a sullen atmosphere

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], line 88:

     Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;

   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 27, lines 497–502:

     He added not; and Satan bowing low / His gray diſſimulation, diſappear'd / Into thin Air diffuſ'd: for now began / Night with her ſullen wing to double-ſhade / The Deſert; Fowls in thir clay neſts were couch't; / And now wild Beaſts came forth the woods to roam.

   • 1714, Alexander Pope, “Canto 4”, in The Rape of the Lock:

     No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, / The dreaded East is all the wind that blows.

3. Sluggish; slow.

   Synonyms: ponderous, stately; see also Thesaurus:slow

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     The larger [stream] was placid, and even sullen, in its course.

   • 1830, Ray Palmer (lyrics and music), “My Faith Looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary”:

     When ends life's transient dream, / when death’s cold, sullen stream / shall o'er me roll,

4. (archaic) Lonely; solitary; desolate.

   Synonyms: forlorn, lonesome

   • 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowles, lines 606–607:

     I recche not how longe that ye stryve; / Lat ech of hem be soleyn al hir lyve,

   • 1390, John Gower, Confessio Amantis‎, lines 133–136:

     That ofte, whanne I scholde pleie, / It makth me drawe out of the weie / In soulein place be miselve, / As doth a labourer to delve,

   • c. 1405, Couldrette, The Romans of Partenay‎, lines 5431–5432:

     Where ye shall finde this solain auenture, / Full strang vnto sight of ech creature

5. (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.

   Synonyms: malevolent, ominous; see also Thesaurus:evil, Thesaurus:ominous

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     Such sullen planets at my birth did shine, / They threaten every Fortune mixt with mine.

   • 1835, John Greenleaf Whittier, Mogg Megone:

     she meets again / The savage murderer's sullen gaze,

6. (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.

   Synonyms: inflexible, persistent; see also Thesaurus:obstinate

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, Imprudence of Atheism:

     Things are as sullen as we are, and will be what they are whatever we think of them.

Noun

sullen (plural sullens)

1. (archaic) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.

   Synonyms: loner, shut-in; see also Thesaurus:recluse

   • c. 1377, William Langland, Piers Plowman, lines 7830–7835:

     He sit neither with seint Johan, / Symond ne Jude, / Ne with maydenes ne with martires, / Confessours ne wydewes; / But by hymself as a soleyn, / And served on erthe.

2. (in the plural) Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.

   Synonyms: glumps, mope

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 2, scene 1], line 139:

     And let them die that age and sullens have;

   • 1632, Philip Massinger, “Act III. Scene IV.”, in The Emperor of the East:

     If she be not sick of the sullens, I see not the least infirmity in her.

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], chapter 7, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume I, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:

     [M]y brother […] charged my desire of being excused coming down to sullens, because a certain person had been spoken against, upon whom, as he supposed, my fancy ran.

Verb

sullen (third-person singular simple present sullens, present participle sullening, simple past and past participle sullened)

1. (obsolete) To make sullen.
   • c. 1620, Owen Feltham, “XLVIII. Of Idleness.”, in Resolves, Divine, Moral, and Political; republished as Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political, London: Whittaker & Co, 1840, page 128:

     The idle man is like the dumb jack in a virginal: while all the other dance out a winning music, this, like a member out of joint, sullens the whole body, with an ill disturbing laziness.

Anagrams

• unsell

Etymology

From Old Dutch sulan.

Verb

sullen

1. (auxiliary) must, to have to
2. (auxiliary, negated) may, be allowed to
3. (auxiliary) will, shall, be going to (future tense)
   • 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:

     Descepenen van bochouta quedden alle degene die dese lettren sien selen i(n) onsen here.

     The aldermen of Bochoute address all who will see this letter by our lord.

4. (auxiliary, in the past tense) to be about to (inchoative)
5. (modal auxiliary) indicates a possible or hypothetical situation
6. (modal auxiliary) indicates information garnered from a third party that may or may not be reliable

Verb

sullen

1. Alternative form of sellen

Pronunciation

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Verb

sūllen

1. first-person singular past indicative of suollit