sullenness

English

Etymology

From sullen +‎ -ness.

Noun

sullenness (countable and uncountable, plural sullennesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being sullen.
   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 323:

     “Marry come up—are you there with your bears?” muttered the dragon, with a draconic sullenness, which was in good keeping with his character, “we had as good have been Romans still, if we are to have no freedom in our pastimes!”

   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     ’Twas sunset: when the sun will part
     There comes a sullenness of heart
     To him who still would look upon
     The glory of the summer sun.

2. (countable, rare) The result or product of being sullen.

Synonyms

• surliness

Translations

state or quality of being sullen

• Finnish: jurous (fi), nyreys (fi), ynseys (fi), yrmeys (fi)
• German: Verdrossenheit (de) f, Verdruss (de) m, Überdruss (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκυθρωπότης f (skuthrōpótēs), βαρυθυμία f (baruthumía)

• Maori: mūmū
• Romanian: ursuzenie (ro) f
• Spanish: hosquedad (es) f, murria (es) f, hastío (es) m