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sullen
used in a sentence

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Definition showing a gloomy or bad mood — often by not interacting with others in a friendly way

More rarely, sullen can refer to the color of a gloomy sky — as in "a sullen sky" or metaphorically,  "a sullen economic landscape".  Even more rarely sullen, can refer to something that moves slowly — as in "a sullen river".
  • She changed from outgoing child to sullen teenager.
sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood — often by not interacting with others in a friendly way
  • A sullen crowd watched the execution.
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • Peter returned to being sullen, refusing to talk.
    Ben Mikaeslen  --  Touching Spirit Bear
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood (often by not interacting with others in a friendly way)
  • her face lost its sullenness and grew interested.
    John Steinbeck  --  Of Mice and Men
    • sullenness = gloominess (appearance of a bad mood)
  • The retreat was orderly, wet and sullen. In the night, going slowly along the crowded roads we...
    Ernest Hemingway  --  A Farewell to Arms
    • sullen = sluggish (or possibly gloomy)
  • Connie's eyes were sullen.
    John Steinbeck  --  The Grapes of Wrath
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • But I stood there sullen and silent with my eyes downcast,
    David Almond  --  Kit's Wilderness
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • "I did not know these things," said Mowgli sullenly, and he frowned under his heavy black eyebrows.
    Rudyard Kipling  --  The Jungle Book
    • sullenly = in a gloomy manner
  • A slight wind picked up and made the trees that grew in sullen clusters along the ridge sway menacingly.
    Walter Dean Myers  --  Fallen Angels
    • sullen = dark (gloomy)
  • [His] ...face grew a shade more sullen and...
    Jean Rhys  --  Wide Sargasso Sea
    • sullen = dark (gloomy / unhappy)
  • As she escorted him to the elevator, I couldn't help but remember the sullen, angry young man who had come into my office just one year earlier.
    Jim Stovall  --  The Ultimate Gift
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • Angel was sullen and quiet;
    Sharon M. Draper  --  Forged by Fire
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • But the name of Aragorn had put Gollum into a sullen mood.
    J.R.R. Tolkien  --  The Two Towers
    • sullen = gloomy or bad
  • She sullen, mean, mischievous and too stubborn to live in this world.
    Alice Walker  --  The Color Purple
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • Beyond the edge of the fields the sullen haze hung over earth and sky alike.
    Cormac McCarthy  --  The Road
    • sullen = gloomy (dark and unpleasant looking)
  • His manner is sullen, his face set in gloom.
    Eugene O'Neill  --  The Iceman Cometh
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood — often by not interacting with others in a friendly way
  • (WALTER is silent and sullen) I—I just seen my family falling apart today . . .
    Lorraine Hansberry  --  A Raisin in the Sun
    • sullen = showing a gloomy mood
  • Pete came along slowly, with a sullen dropping of the under lip.
    Stephen Crane  --  Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood
  • Willie Streeter came back to the gym, sullen and overweight.
    Robert Lipsyte  --  The Contender
    • sullen = showing a gloomy or bad mood — often by not interacting with others in a friendly way
  • I leaned back next to him sullenly.
    S.E. Hinton  --  The Outsiders
sullenly = showing a gloomy or bad mood

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