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   bleak

   /bliːk/

   adjective

   • 1. (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements: "a bleak and barren moor" Similar bareexposeddesolatestarkariddesertdenudedlunaropenemptywindswepttreelessforestlesswithout vegetationdefoliatedunshelteredunprotectedunshieldedrare:unwoodedOpposite lushverdant
   • ▪ (of a building or room) charmless and inhospitable; dreary: "he looked round the bleak little room in despair"
   • ▪ (of the weather) cold and miserable: "a bleak midwinter's day" Similar coldkeenrawharshwintrypiercingpenetratingbitingnippingstingingsharpfreezingicyicy-coldfrostyfrigidchillyinformal:nippyparkyBalticliterary:chillOpposite warmbalmy
   • ▪ (of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favourable outcome: "he paints a bleak picture of a company that has lost its way" Similar unpromisingunfavourableunpropitiousinauspiciousadversedisadvantageousuninvitingdiscouragingdishearteningdepressingcheerlessjoylessgloomysombredrearydismalwretchedmiserableblackdarkgrimdrabportentousforebodinghopelessominousOpposite promisinghopeful
   • ▪ (of a person's expression) cold and forbidding: "his mouth was set and his eyes were bleak"

   Word Origin Old Englishblāc ‘shining, white’, or in later use from synonymous Old Norse bleikr; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to bleach.

   Derivatives

   • 1. bleakly adverb

   Scrabble Points: 11

   • B

     3

   • L

     1

   • E

     1

   • A

     1

   • K

     5

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