Dour
Sullen, gloomy, stern, or hard; describes a mood, demeanor, or atmosphere that is unfriendly or severe.
adjectiveDour
Sullen, gloomy, stern, or hard; describes a mood, demeanor, or atmosphere that is unfriendly or severe.
adjectiveImagine This
Imagine the clock approaching midnight. 'The hour has come,' the executioner told the death-row inmate to go into the gas chamber. At that point, the inmate felt everything becoming gloomy. Sour dough bread is usually hard to swallow.
Sounds Like
sounds like 'door' (rhymes with 'hour')
Looks Like
Sour
Remember This
Dour originally comes from Old French dur, from Latin durus meaning 'hard' or 'tough.' The sense of a stern, unfriendly demeanor developed from the idea of something hard or unyielding.
Other Forms
Connect With
grim, austere, stern, severe
Note
Avoid using dour to describe things that are merely sad or depressing; it denotes a stern, unfriendly, or harsh mood or appearance. Not the same as 'dreary' or 'melancholy' in everyday use.
Study Deeper
- The teacher's dour expression warned the students to stop talking.
- The town faced a dour winter with little sunlight and high winds.
From Old French dur (hard), from Latin durus (hard, tough). The sense evolved to describe a hard, stern demeanor.
Dour sounds like door; imagine a closed, unyielding door—unapproachable and stern. Also link to 'sour' for the mood sense.
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Similar Words
Related words and words with the same part of speech.
Austere
adjectiveSeverely strict in living or thinking; plain, spare, and without luxury; stern.
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