bleak
/bli:k/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Unpleasantly cold and damp; exposed and windswept: Describes weather or a place that is cold, wet, and lacking warmth or shelter.
- Bare, barren, and desolate: Describes a landscape that is empty, without vegetation or features, often evoking a sense of harshness and emptiness.
- Offering little or no hope; grim and depressing: Describes a situation, prospect, or outlook that is hopeless, discouraging, or dismal.
Usage Examples
- Describing weather or a place:
- We faced the bleak winds of the North Atlantic.
- The bleak, treeless moor offered no protection from the storm.
- Describing a landscape:
- They crossed a bleak and barren landscape of bare rock.
- The bleak surface of the moon was visible through the telescope.
- Describing a situation or outlook:
- The economic forecast is bleak.
- After the accident, his chances of recovery looked bleak.
Advanced Usage
- "to paint a bleak picture (of something)": to describe a situation in a way that makes it seem very bad or hopeless.
- The report painted a bleak picture of the company's future finances.
- "in bleak terms": describing something using grim, pessimistic language.
- The manager described the project's failure in bleak terms.
Variants and Related Words
- Bleakly (adverb): in a bleak manner.
- He stared bleakly out the window at the rain.
- Bleakness (noun): the quality or state of being bleak.
- The bleakness of the winter landscape was overwhelming.
Synonyms
- Desolate: (of a place) deserted, empty, and bleak.
- Barren: (of land) too poor to produce much or any vegetation; bleak.
- Grim: forbidding or uninviting; depressing.
- Dismal: causing a mood of gloom or depression; dreary.
Antonyms
- Hopeful: feeling or inspiring optimism.
- Cheerful: noticeably happy and optimistic.
- Fertile: (of soil or land) producing abundant vegetation; fruitful.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- A bleak outlook/prospect: a future situation that appears grim or hopeless.
- The continued drought presents a bleak outlook for farmers.
- Bleak midwinter: often used poetically to describe the coldest, darkest, and most depressing part of winter.
- The garden slept under a blanket of snow in the bleak midwinter.
Adjective
- unpleasantly cold and damp
- bleak winds of the North Atlantic
- 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
- 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