Meanings
plural drearinesses
- countableuncountableThe characteristic of being dreary.
What tho’ the moon—the white moon Shed all the splendour of her noon, Her smile is chilly—and her beam, In that time of dreariness, will seem (So like you gather in your breath) A portrait taken after death.
1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor PoemsSynonyms: drearihead, gloom, melancholia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe characteristic of being dreary.
More synonyms by meaning
nounextreme dullness; lacking spirit or interest
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishdrēoriġnys“dreariness, sadness”
- Middle Englishdrerinesse
- Englishdreariness
From Middle English drerinesse, drerynesse, from Old English drēoriġnys (“dreariness, sadness”), equivalent to dreary + -ness.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Trostlosigkeit, Öde
- Trostlosigkeitstate of being dreary
- Ödestate of being dreary
- Tristessestate of being dreary
- Langweiligkeitstate of being dreary
Cite this entry
dreariness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dreariness
“dreariness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dreariness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dreariness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dreariness.
Source: dreariness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.