dreary

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrigr (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɪəɹi/ (General American, mirror–nearer merger) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɪɹi/ (US, without the mirror–nearer merger) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɪɚi/, /ˈdɹiɹi/ (Scotland) IPA(key): /ˈdɹiɹɪ/, /ˈdɹiɹe/ (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈdɹiəɹi/ (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɛːɹi/ Rhymes: -ɪəɹi === Adjective === dreary (comparative drearier or more dreary, superlative dreariest or most dreary) Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless. Synonyms: bleak, gloomy; see also Thesaurus:cheerless, Thesaurus:dim (obsolete) Grievous, dire; appalling. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === dreary (plural drearies) (rare) A dreary person or thing. (Can we find and add a quotation of H. G. Wells to this entry?) In the glow of this project Steele manages to forget altogether the parade of donnish and scholastic drearies, the barricades of schoolbooks, texts, examinations with which he has dealt so faithfully. === Anagrams === Ardrey, Drayer, yarder, yarred, errday