Both Uses
sullen
in
Kit's Wilderness
(Edited)
- They were dark things, black things: silhouettes of children on a gray field; black slow river; black tilting houses; black scratches of birds in a sullen sky.
p. 4.1 *sullen = dark (gloomy)
- But I stood there sullen and silent with my eyes downcast,
p. 17.8 *sullen = unhappy and withdrawn
Definitions:
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(1)
(sullen as in: a sullen mood) being unhappy (and often withdrawn)
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(2)
(sullen as in: a sullen sky) darkened by clouds; or the color of a gloomy sky
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(3)
(sullen as in: sullen heat) unpleasant
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Sullen can also be used figuratively. For example, "A sullen economic landscape" is one that does not look hopeful.