'Bleak' definitions:
Definition of 'bleak'
From: WordNet
adjective
Offering little or no hope; "the future looked black"; "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of things" [syn: black, bleak, dim]
adjective
Providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape" [syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark]
adjective
Definition of 'Bleak'
From: GCIDE
- Bleak \Bleak\, n. [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] (Zool.) A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinid[ae]; the blay. [Written also blick.] [1913 Webster]
- Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. --Baird. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Bleak'
From: GCIDE
- Bleak \Bleak\ (bl[=e]k), a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. bl[=a]c, bl[=ae]c, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. bl[=e]k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. bl[imac]can to shine; akin to OHG. bl[imac]chen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. fle`gein to burn, shine, Skr. bhr[=a]j to shine, and E. flame. [root]98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.]
- 1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead. --Foxe. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds. [1913 Webster]
- Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth, the foodful ear. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
- At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast. [1913 Webster] -- {Bleak"ish}, a. -- {Bleak"ly}, adv. -- {Bleak"ness}, n. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'bleak'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- affecting,
- afflictive,
- affording no hope,
- algid,
- apathetic,
- arctic,
- austere,
- bare,
- barren,
- below zero,
- biting,
- bitter,
- bitterly cold,
- black,
- blown,
- boreal,
- brisk,
- brumal,
- cheerless,
- chilly,
- cold,
- cold as charity,
- cold as death,
- cold as ice,
- cold as marble,
- comfortless,
- crisp,
- cutting,
- dark,
- deplorable,
- depressing,
- depressive,
- desolate,
- despairing,
- desperate,
- despondent,
- discomforting,
- disconsolate,
- disheartening,
- dismal,
- dismaying,
- distressful,
- distressing,
- dolorific,
- dolorogenic,
- dolorous,
- dour,
- drear,
- drearisome,
- dreary,
- exposed,
- forlorn,
- freezing,
- freezing cold,
- frigid,
- funebrial,
- funereal,
- gelid,
- glacial,
- gloomy,
- grave,
- gray,
- grievous,
- grim,
- hard,
- harsh,
- hibernal,
- hiemal,
- hopeless,
- hyperborean,
- ice-cold,
- ice-encrusted,
- icelike,
- icy,
- in despair,
- inclement,
- joyless,
- keen,
- lamentable,
- melancholy,
- mournful,
- moving,
- nipping,
- nippy,
- numbing,
- oppressive,
- painful,
- pathetic,
- penetrating,
- piercing,
- pinching,
- piteous,
- pitiable,
- poignant,
- raw,
- regrettable,
- rigorous,
- rueful,
- sad,
- saddening,
- saturnine,
- severe,
- sharp,
- Siberian,
- sleety,
- slushy,
- snappy,
- solemn,
- somber,
- sombrous,
- sore,
- sorrowful,
- stone-cold,
- stringent,
- subzero,
- supercooled,
- touching,
- triste,
- uncomfortable,
- unhappy,
- unhopeful,
- weariful,
- wearisome,
- weary,
- windblown,
- windswept,
- winterbound,
- winterlike,
- wintery,
- wintry,
- without hope,
- woebegone,
- woeful,
- wretched