sulky
1 of 2adjective
sulky
2 of 2noun
Synonyms
Adjective
- glum
- mopey
- pouting
- pouty
- sullen
- surly
Example Sentences
Jeanette Marantosstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2022 No new facts are necessary to demonstrate that Trump was a sulky, smooth-brained baby, prone to fits of pouty anger, enabled by a coterie of vile liars and violent stooges. Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 2 July 2022 Both wrote famously about the Santa Anas — the former describing them as a driver of bar fights and murder, the latter as a cause of sulky maids and screaming peacocks. Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2022 Director Pablo Larraín, the Chilean cynic whose niche is sentimentalizing Western icons (Tony Manero, Jackie) uses Stewart’s sulky manner with precision. Armond White, National Review, 10 Nov. 2021 Slater also oversaw a marketing campaign that presented his new artist as a sulky siren, transforming her into a global star and a media target. Mick Stevens, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021 What comes through now is the vehemence and sulky confusion of a generation’s anti-American snit. Armond White, National Review, 2 June 2021 There's no reason for the Countryman to look so sulky. Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 21 Jan. 2020 Cue a sulky gesture from Xhaka to the fed-up Gooners. SI.com, 28 Oct. 2019 Mary Jane Brewer, cleveland, 23 May 2022 Occasionally there would be an eruption of cheering, or sulky booing would break out. Doug Maccash | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 3 Nov. 2020 The conversion from pulling a buggy to pulling a sulky resulted in the run of victories, all at Northfield, stretching from early June until late September. Bob Roberts, cleveland, 10 Oct. 2019 But when Hawthorne resumed racing June 13, Curtin wasn’t back in the sulky. chicagotribune.com, 20 June 2019 Proven harness racing royalty will sit in the sulky behind Bully Pulpit. Bob Roberts, cleveland.com, 5 June 2019 Original race cars, vintage cycling gear, harness-racing sulkies, and other racing items will also be on display. Philly.com, 9 May 2018 Uruguay famously got sulky over the shortage of European teams at the first World Cup and refused to travel over for the 1934 tournament, and Argentina joined them four years later when FIFA decided to stage a second consecutive World Cup in Europe. SI.com, 22 Mar. 2018 The term dates to 1945, when it was used by the military psychiatrist William Menninger to define the attitude of sulky, balky soldiers. Ben Brantley, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2018 See More Word History
Adjective
probably alteration of obsolete sulke sluggish
Noun
probably from sulky entry 1; from its having room for only one person
Adjective
1744, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Noun
1756, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
sulky 1 of 2
adjective
sulky
2 of 2noun
sulky
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- pouting
- irritable
- sullen
- pouty
- surly
- mopey
- brooding
- glum
- morose
- petulant
- dour
- peevish
- grumpy
- snappish
- irascible
- waspish
- cross
- grouchy
- pettish
- gloomy
- sensitive
- crotchety
- disagreeable
- crabby
- testy
- choleric
- cantankerous
- moping
- snarky
- ornery
- tetchy
- dyspeptic
- raspy
- down in the mouth
- short-tempered
- snippy
- cranky
- bilious
- huffy
- ill-tempered
- quick-tempered
- ill-humored
- temperamental
- ratty
- snippety
- ill-natured
- perverse
- prickly
- touchy
- snappy
- thin-skinned
- bearish
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- cheerful
- sociable
- cheery
- perky
- sunny
- carefree
- easygoing
- good-natured
- good-tempered
- gladsome
- relaxed
- good-humored
- happy-go-lucky
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of sulky are crabbed, gloomy, glum, morose, saturnine, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.
The words crabbed and sulky can be used in similar contexts, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.
While the synonyms gloomy and sulky are close in meaning, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.
The words glum and sulky are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.
Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.
In some situations, the words saturnine and sulky are roughly equivalent. However, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.
While in some cases nearly identical to sulky, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.
The synonyms surly and sulky are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.