dour

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dour

(do͝or, dour)

adj. dour·er, dour·est

1. Marked by sternness or harshness; forbidding: a dour, self-sacrificing life.

2. Silently ill-humored; gloomy: the proverbially dour New England Puritan.

3. Sternly obstinate; unyielding: a dour determination.

[Middle English, possibly from Middle Irish dúr, probably from Latin dūrus, hard; see deru- in Indo-European roots.]

dour′ly adv.

dour′ness n.

Usage Note: The word dour, which is etymologically related to duress and endure, traditionally rhymes with tour. The pronunciation that rhymes with sour is a standard variant that has been in use for more than a century. In our 1996 survey, 65 percent of the Usage Panel preferred the traditional pronunciation, and 33 percent preferred the variant. In our 2011 survey, opinion was almost evenly split, with 52 percent preferring the traditional pronunciation and 48 percent preferring the variant. These results suggest that the variant could overtake the traditional pronunciation in preference.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dour

(dʊə; ˈdaʊə)

adj

1. sullen

2. hard or obstinate

[C14: probably from Latin dūrus hard]

ˈdourly adv

ˈdourness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dour

(dʊər, daʊ^ər, ˈdaʊ ər)

adj.

1. sullen; gloomy.

2. severe; stern.

3. Scot. (of land) barren; rocky.

[1325–75; Middle English < Latin dūrus hard, severe]

dour′ly, adv.

dour′ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	dour - stubbornly unyielding; "dogged persistence"; "dour determination"; "the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics"; "a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it"- T.S.Eliot; "men tenacious of opinion" dogged, pertinacious, unyielding, tenacious, persistent obstinate, stubborn, unregenerate - tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield
	2.	dour - harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance; "a dour, self-sacrificing life"; "a forbidding scowl"; "a grim man loving duty more than humanity"; "undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw"- J.M.Barrie forbidding, grim unpleasant - disagreeable to the senses, to the mind, or feelings ; "an unpleasant personality"; "unpleasant repercussions"; "unpleasant odors"
	3.	dour - showing a brooding ill humor; "a dark scowl"; "the proverbially dour New England Puritan"; "a glum, hopeless shrug"; "he sat in moody silence"; "a morose and unsociable manner"; "a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius"- Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd" moody, morose, glowering, sullen, glum, saturnine, sour, dark ill-natured - having an irritable and unpleasant disposition

dour

adjective gloomy, forbidding, grim, sour, dismal, dreary, sullen, unfriendly, morose a dour, taciturn man
happy, pleasant, sunny, cheerful, cheery, good-humoured, carefree, genial, chirpy (informal), jovial

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dour

adjective

1. Cold and forbidding:

austere, bleak, grim, hard, harsh, severe, stark.

2. Broodingly and sullenly unhappy:

gloomy, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sulky, sullen, surly.

Translations

αγέλαστος

cupo

afschrikwekkend

мрачный непреклонный строгий суровый

dour

[ˈdʊəʳ] ADJ (= grim) → adusto, arisco
a dour Scot → un escocés adusto or arisco
a dour struggle → una batalla muy reñida

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dour

[ˈdaʊə^r ˈdʊə^r] adj [person] → froid(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dour

adj (= silent, unfriendly) → verdrießlich; struggle → hart, hartnäckig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dour

[ˈdʊəʳ] adj (grim) → arcigno/a

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