dour

[door, dou^uhr, dou-er]

adjective

1. sullen; gloomy.

   The captain's dour look depressed us all.

   Synonyms: moody, sour, morose

2. severe; stern.

   His dour criticism made us regret having undertaken the job.

3. Scot.,  (of land) barren; rocky, infertile, or otherwise difficult or impossible to cultivate.

dour

/ ˈdaʊə, dʊə /

adjective

1. sullen

2. hard or obstinate

Other Word Forms

• dourness noun
• dourly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of dour¹

1325–75; Middle English, from Latin dūrus dure ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of dour¹

C14: probably from Latin dūrus hard

Synonym Study

See glum.

Example Sentences

Set in a dour factory, “Metropolis” is “the grandfather of all ‘beat the worker down with monotonous, repetitive labor, totally unrecognized by management’ movies,” says Mankiewicz of TCM.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Target attempted to sweeten the impact of a mixed set of third-quarter earnings and a dour holiday season outlook by floating a new partnership with OpenAI.

Read more on Barron's

The index measures the sentiment of home builders, with readings less than 50 indicative of a dour outlook for the single-family housing market in the next six months.

Read more on Barron's

The index measures the sentiment of homebuilders, with readings less than 50 indicating a dour outlook for the single-family housing market in the next six months.

Read more on Barron's

The index measures the sentiment of homebuilders, with readings less than 50 indicating a dour outlook for the single-family housing market in the next six months.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• bleak 
• glum 
• harsh 
• morose 
• sullen 
• surly