• enPR: sŭlʹən, IPA: /ˈsʌlən/

sullen (comparative sullener, superlative sullenest)

1. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.

   • And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.

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

     quote en

2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, IV. v. 88:

     Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;

   • 1671, John Milton, “Book the First”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398 ↗, lines 497–502, page 27 ↗:

     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.

3. Sluggish; slow.
   • 1814 July 6, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 270129598 ↗:

4. (obsolete) Lonely; solitary; desolate.
5. (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.

   • Such sullen planets at my birth did shine.

6. (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.

   • Things are as sullen as we are.

• sulky, morose

• cheerful
• content
• lighthearted
• pleased

• French: maussade, morose
• German: mürrisch, schlecht gelaunt, sauer, missmutig, übellaunig, unfreundlich, verdrießlich, grämlich, unzufrieden
• Italian: afflitto, astioso
• Portuguese: carrancudo
• Russian: угрю́мый
• Spanish: hosco, huraño

• French: morne
• German: düster, traurig, finster, trostlos, trübselig, fade, trüb, kläglich, trübe, miserabel, jämmerlich, trist, trübsinnig, kläglich, griesgrämig
• Italian: tetro, cupo, disarmante
• Portuguese: sombrio
• Russian: печа́льный
• Spanish: sombrío

• French: lent
• German: träge, lahm, zäh
• Italian: lento, pigro
• Portuguese: lento
• Spanish: lento

sullen (plural sullens)

1. (obsolete) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.
2. (chiefly, in plural) Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, II. i. 139:

     And let them die that age and sullens have;

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, I.7:

     [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.