dour
[door, douuhr, dou-er]
- sullen; gloomy: The captain's dour look depressed us all.
- severe; stern: His dour criticism made us regret having undertaken the job.
- Scot. (of land) barren; rocky, infertile, or otherwise difficult or impossible to cultivate.
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Origin of dour
Synonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
sullenmoroseharshglumsurlybleakdismaldrearyforbiddinghardsaturnineseveresourstringentsulkyuglyunfriendlycrabbedExamples from the Web for dourest
Historical Examples
Mr Adam Wilkie is a Scot of the dourest and most sepulchral appearance.
A Safety MatchIan Hay
The rôle fitted him very well, for he is the dourest politician in Yugoslavia—a perfectly honest, upright, injudicious patriot.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2Henry Baerlein
And so we might, had it not been for the innate depravity of man as exemplified in the dourest driver that ever handled reins.
From Gretna Green to Land's EndKatharine Lee Bates
And this is how one Englishwoman found out that the Scot is at once the dourest and the tenderest of men.
His Majesty Baby and Some Common PeopleIan MacLaren
When he opened his cabin door he was confronted by the dourest aspect of the north that he had yet seen.
Burned BridgesBertrand W. Sinclair
dour
- sullen
- hard or obstinate
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Word Origin
C14: probably from Latin dūrus hard
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for dourest
dour
adj.
mid-14c., "severe," from Scottish and northern England dialect, probably from Latin durus "hard" (see endure); sense of "gloomy, sullen" is late 15c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper