düster

Meaning

dark, dim, gloomy, obscure
(figuratively) cheerless, melancholy, somber

gloomy

dark

sombre

somber

obscure

dismal

sullen

murky

bleak

dim

lugubrious

grim

dusky

drab

dreary

gaunt

miserable

sad

mournful

saturnine

gloom

melancholy

depressing

mirk

cross

boring

brutal

disagreeable

distasteful

gruff

harsh

horrible

morose

nasty

peevish

pettish

petulant

rough

sour

stodgy

surly

unkind

unpleasant

depressed

desolate

disturbed

melancholic

funereally

sepulcher

saturninely

unclear

unfamiliar

unknown

disappointed

discouraged

dispirited

doleful

tearful

awkward

cumbrous

heavy

leaden

oppressive

faint

fleeting

light

pale

shady

dingy

dull

sinister

dire

sepulchral

gloomily

solemn

Larkinesque

downhearted

gloomful

tenebrific

Frequency

Hyphenated as

düs‧ter;

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdyːstər/

From Middle Low German dûster, from Old Saxon thiustri, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þiustrī (“dark, without light”). The word also exists in parts of West Central German (compare Luxembourgish däischter), which probably facilitated the borrowing; but the standardised form is definitely from Low German in view of its lacking diphthongisation.

Bookmark this

Improve your pronunciation