SULKINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sulkiness mean? 

• SULKINESS (noun)
  The noun SULKINESS has 3 senses:

1. a mood or display of sullen aloofness or withdrawal

2. a feeling of sulky resentment

3. a sullen moody resentful disposition

  Familiarity information: SULKINESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SULKINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mood or display of sullen aloofness or withdrawal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

sulk; sulkiness

Context example:

stayed home in a sulk

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

humor; humour; mood; temper (a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling)

Derivation:

sulky (sullen or moody)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of sulky resentment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

huffishness; sulkiness

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

bitterness; gall; rancor; rancour; resentment (a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will)

Derivation:

sulky (sullen or moody)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sullen moody resentful disposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

moroseness; sourness; sulkiness; sullenness

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

ill nature (a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition)

Derivation:

sulky (sullen or moody)

 Context examples 

I wish there may not be a little sulkiness of temper—her poor mother had a good deal; but we must make allowances for such a child—and I do not know that her being sorry to leave her home is really against her, for, with all its faults, it was her home, and she cannot as yet understand how much she has changed for the better; but then there is moderation in all things.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)