dour
Grimly unsmiling disposition
Dour describes a stern, gloomy, or forbidding manner.
A dour expression suggests displeasure or severity; a dour personality is humorless and unyielding.
The word often characterizes people who seem perpetually grim: The dour professor never cracked a smile.
Dour weather is bleak and cheerless.
The word rhymes with "tour" in American English, "sour" in Scottish.
Subdued, lasting sadness
- somberGravely serious in mood
- bleakDreary and without cheer
- drearyDull and depressing
- dismalDepressingly dark or dull
cheerless · joyless · morose · glum · sullen · brooding · downcast · dejected
Strict or ship's aft
- austereSeverely simple and unadorned
- strictRigorous, without flexibility
- unsmilingNot showing amusement
- seriousWeighty and requiring attention
grave · solemn · hard · harsh · unforgiving · rigid · stiff · unbending
Hostile to guests
- unapproachableImpossible to access or befriend
- intimidatingInspiring fear or unease
- off-puttingCausing mild aversion
- uninvitingLacking warmth or appeal
inhospitable · unfriendly · repellent · disconcerting · cold · stony · frosty · icy
Firmly refusing to yield
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- inflexibleUnable to bend
- uncompromisingRefusing to yield ground
- adamantStubbornly refusing to yield
dogged · tenacious · intransigent · implacable · unbending · mulish · headstrong · willful
Harsh in manner
- brusqueAbrupt and dismissive
- curtAbruptly rude in speech
- churlishIll-mannered and rude
- crabbyIll-tempered, easily annoyed
grumpy · irascible · peevish · testy · cantankerous · curmudgeonly · ill-tempered · bad-tempered
melancholy
Subdued, lasting sadness
dismal · cheerless · joyless · morose · glum · sullen · brooding · downcast · dejected · despondent
stern
Strict or ship's aft
- austereSeverely simple and unadorned
- strictRigorous, without flexibility
- unsmilingNot showing amusement
serious · grave · solemn · hard · harsh · unforgiving · rigid · stiff · unbending · no-nonsense
unwelcoming
Hostile to guests
- unapproachableImpossible to access or befriend
- intimidatingInspiring fear or unease
- off-puttingCausing mild aversion
uninviting · inhospitable · unfriendly · repellent · disconcerting · cold · stony · frosty · icy · glowering
obstinate
Firmly refusing to yield
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- inflexibleUnable to bend
- uncompromisingRefusing to yield ground
adamant · dogged · tenacious · intransigent · implacable · unbending · mulish · headstrong · willful · pigheaded
gruff
Harsh in manner
crabby · grumpy · irascible · peevish · testy · cantankerous · curmudgeonly · ill-tempered · bad-tempered · cross
- seriousness descriptorsserious, grave, solemn, somber, stern
- irritabilitycranky, grouchy, grumpy, irritated, annoyed
- menacingthreatening, intimidating, menacing, ominous, sinister
- simplicitysimple, minimalism, plain, clarity, bare
- sombergloomy, bleak, dreary, dismal, melancholy
- unfriendlyunfriendly, hostile, cold, cool, distant