sullenly

[suhl-uhn-lee]

adverb

1. in a way that shows irritation, ill humor, or gloom; morosely.

   In the next room, an embittered, lonely man sits sullenly.

2. with a gloomy or dismal sound.

   The door thudded sullenly behind her.

   The waves roared sullenly against the base of the cliff.

Other Word Forms

• unsullenly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of sullenly¹

sullen ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Harper, who often has to mother her baby brother, offers Hal some words of comfort … while sullenly smoking a cigarette.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Republicans were sullenly falling into formation behind this pick, as evidenced by the suppression of the ethics report.

Read more on Salon

In the usual braying-and-pouting choreography of the State of the Union evening, members of the president’s party leap ecstatically when he praises himself, and members of the other party respond sullenly, by not responding.

Read more on Washington Post

I've been hurt by starters that would never become sufficiently foamy, by doughs that sullenly refused to rise, by boules that baked into oversized hockey pucks.

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He lost that opportunity because he could not create the necessary heroic drama — the one in which he was not sullenly subverting the presidential election but selflessly upholding its real results.

Read more on Salon