dour.

Stern, gloomy, and showing little warmth or humour.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• dour expression
• dour outlook

On the page

Her dour expression changed only when the dog pushed its nose into her hand.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more dour; superlative most dour when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.