bleak

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /blik/ UK /bliːk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
bare, cold, and cheerless; offering little hope

The future looked bleak for the struggling town.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · bare, cold, and cheerless;... desolate barren dreary cheerless grim gloomy austere forbidding

Opposites

cheerful hopeful lush inviting bright

Word family

Forms bleakness

Derived forms bleaklybleaknessbleakish

Related forms bleach blanch

Etymology

From Middle English bleke ('pale, wan'), from Old Norse bleikr ('pale') or Old English blāc ('pale, bright'), from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- ('to shine').

bleikr Old Norse *blaikaz Proto-Germanic *bʰel- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

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# bleak

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /blik/
**IPA (UK):** /bliːk/

## Meanings
1. bare, cold, and cheerless; offering little hope

## Examples
- The future looked bleak for the struggling town.

## Synonyms
- desolate
- barren
- dreary
- cheerless
- grim
- gloomy
- austere
- forbidding

## Antonyms
- cheerful
- hopeful
- lush
- inviting
- bright

## Derived Forms
- bleakly
- bleakness
- bleakish

## Related Forms
- bleach
- blanch

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bleikr
- Root: *blaikaz
- Root: *bʰel-

## Etymology
From Middle English bleke ('pale, wan'), from Old Norse bleikr ('pale') or Old English blāc ('pale, bright'), from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- ('to shine').

## AI Etymology
Bleak is from Middle English bleke ('pale, wan'), from Old Norse bleikr ('pale') or Old English blāc ('pale, bright'), from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- ('to shine'). In present-day use, it means bare, cold, and cheerless; offering little hope. Derived formations include bleakly, bleakness, and bleakish. Related vocabulary includes bleach and blanch.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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bleak

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