HOW TO PRONOUNCE
sullen
/ˈsʌlən/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does sullen mean?
adjective
- Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
- Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
- Sluggish; slow.
More meanings (5)
noun
- Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
- (archaic) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
adjective
- (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
- (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.
verb
- (obsolete) To make sullen.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈsʌlən/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
As I knew him to be of a rather sullen unsocial disposition, I said nothing to him, but proceeded on my way.
The soldiers, also, showed symptoms of hidden discontent, and wore sullen looks, no distribution of money being even now made to them.
More book examples (3)
During the whole five months he seldom or never quitted the ship, but carried on the duty with strict and sullen attention.
Every once in a while we managed a glimpse of the sullen oily river through the dense leaf screen on its banks.
The double tier of wreckage now swept forward, and hurled itself with a sullen plunge against the cutwaters of my stone piers.