DREARINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dreariness mean? 

• DREARINESS (noun)
  The noun DREARINESS has 1 sense:

1. extreme dullness; lacking spirit or interest

  Familiarity information: DREARINESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DREARINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extreme dullness; lacking spirit or interest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

boringness; dreariness; insipidity; insipidness

Hypernyms ("dreariness" is a kind of...):

dullness (the quality of lacking interestingness)

Derivation:

dreary (causing dejection)

dreary (lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise)

 Context examples 

When all was finished, I thought Moor House as complete a model of bright modest snugness within, as it was, at this season, a specimen of wintry waste and desert dreariness without.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring, would have been a meet emblem of my mind when I accused and menaced Mrs. Reed: the same ridge, black and blasted after the flames are dead, would have represented as meetly my subsequent condition, when half-an-hour's silence and reflection had shown me the madness of my conduct, and the dreariness of my hated and hating position.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)