What does dreary mean?
Word: Dreary
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Dreary means dull, boring and making you feel sad, often because of grey weather or a lack of anything interesting.
Synonyms: gloomy, dull, drab
Antonyms: bright, lively
Word origin: From Old English dreorig, sad or sorrowful.
How do you spell dreary?
Syllables: drear - y
Tricky part: The vowel sound in the middle is spelt ea, as in near and dear: dreery is wrong.
Watch out for: dreery, dreiry
Memory tip: Dreary weather makes you wish your dear friend were near: dear and near give the ear in dreary.
Dreary in a sentence
Example 1: It was a dreary afternoon, with grey clouds and a steady drizzle.
Example 2: The waiting room was dreary, with bare walls and broken chairs.
Example 3: After a dreary week of revision, the weekend picnic felt wonderful.
Fun Fact
Poets sometimes use drear, a shorter form with the same meaning, as in a drear winter night.
Practise the CREST Way
Spellacadabra
Choose the misspelt word:
a) donkey
b) kidney
c) drearey
d) chimney
Show answer
c) drearey. Dreary ends in a plain y; chimney, donkey and kidney really do end in -ey.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its opposite:
1. dreary 2. robust 3. vacant a. frail b. occupied c. cheerful
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
c) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
Show answer
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. A dreary day is the opposite of a cheerful one; robust is the opposite of frail and vacant of occupied.
Jumble Tumble
Which option has letters that you can rearrange to form a word that can describe gloomy weather?
a) rumkh
b) kaelp
c) aryder
d) moolgi
Show answer
c) aryder. Aryder rearranges to dreary; the other three are each one letter away from bleak, gloomy and murky.
Sound Check
In which word is 'ea' pronounced differently?
a) pearl
b) beard
c) dreary
d) appear
Show answer
a) pearl. In pearl, ea is said like the ur in fur; in dreary, appear and beard it is the eer of deer.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. How could a dreary waiting room be made more cheerful?
a) turning off all the lights
b) taking away the chairs
c) closing every window
d) colourful posters and a few plants
Show answer
d) colourful posters and a few plants
2. 'A dreary November evening' could also be called a ____ evening.
a) balmy
b) bleak
c) festive
d) hectic
Show answer
b) bleak
