bleak
1 Americanadjective
-
bleaker,
comparative
-
bleakest
superlative
-
bare, desolate, and often windswept.
a bleak plain.
-
cold and piercing; raw.
a bleak wind.
-
without hope or encouragement; depressing; dreary.
a bleak future.
noun
-
bleaks
plural
adjective
-
exposed and barren; desolate
-
cold and raw
-
offering little hope or excitement; dismal
a bleak future
noun
Synonym Usage
See austere.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of bleak1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bleke “pale,” blend of variants bleche ( Old English blǣc ) and blake ( Old English blāc ); both cognate with Old Norse bleikr, German bleich; akin to bleach
Origin of bleak2
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English bleke, noun use of bleke “pale”; see bleak 1
Explanation
Something that is bleak is gloomy and depressing. If it's raining and dark, you might describe the night as bleak. If you have looked for work and no one will hire you, you could describe your prospects as bleak. If you and the ten people sharing your lifeboat have been adrift for ten days and are down to your last cracker, your situation is bleak. A near synonym is dismal. Bleak is from Middle English bleik, from Old Norse bleikr, "white, pale." This word is related to the English word bleach.
Vocabulary lists containing bleak
"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He described the current economic outlook as bleak, and the numbers back him up.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
That was a bit bleak, but obsessing over it won’t change anything.
From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2026
The former Iraqi president -- himself a one time refugee -- spelled out the bleak situation while opening UNHCR's annual executive committee meeting, which runs until Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
“A Past Without Pictures” is a bleak but intermittently lyrical work with lean prose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
It was a bleak land, a bleak house.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
We once caught in an hour 6000 fishes like bleaks.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Robert Kerr
But the study was completed in 2020 and the findings today would be even bleaker, Obura said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
For young Americans, though, the job landscape was much bleaker.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Many in Hollywood fear that the consolidation of two historic studios will bring thousands of layoffs and contribute to a bleaker employment picture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Though China’s official urban unemployment rate has remained steady at around 5%, some economists believe the actual labor-market picture is bleaker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
That same day, however, he wrote John a private and far bleaker letter.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Even in the bleakest moments, we took great comfort in their support.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
When I graduated from UC–Berkeley with my “useless” comparative literature degree, into one of the bleakest job markets in recent American memory, I thought to myself, There must be a loophole somewhere.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
What happened next was described by one reviewer as one of Rai's bleakest ever live broadcasts, when its flagship Rai 1 channel had an audience share of more than 46%.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
The last connects to the bleakest memory outie Mark and his wife share – a miscarriage that followed months of difficulty conceiving.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2025
In theory, scientists can get energy from the Casimir effect even at absolute zero in the bleakest part of the vacuum of space.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
