bleak

Offering little hope that things will improve or turn out well.

• The future looks bleak.
• Job prospects are bleak in this town.
• The report painted a bleak picture of the economy.

Similar words: grim, gloomy, hopeless

Opposites: promising, hopeful

Common phrases: bleak future, bleak prospects, look bleak

Empty, cold, and unattractive, with little to make a place feel welcoming.

• The hills looked bleak in winter.
• They crossed a bleak stretch of open land.
• We stayed in a bleak little town by the coast.

Similar words: desolate, barren, stark

Opposites: inviting

Common phrases: bleak landscape, bleak hillside, bleak countryside

Sad and without any feeling of comfort or happiness.

• She felt bleak and lonely.
• Those were bleak days after his wife's death.
• The film shows the family's bleak existence.

Similar words: cheerless, miserable, gloomy, desolate

Opposites: cheerful, happy

Common phrases: bleak mood, bleak existence, feel bleak

Very pale, with little or no color.

• Her face was bleak and pale.
• A bleak white light filled the hallway.
• His bleak cheeks showed no trace of color.

Similar words: pale, pallid, colorless

Opposites: colorful, rosy

Common phrases: a bleak face, bleak white, bleak complexion

A small silver fish that lives in European rivers and lakes.

• He caught a bleak in the river.
• A shoal of bleak swam near the surface.
• The lake contains perch and bleak.

Similar words: ablet, alburn, blay

Common phrases: a small bleak, catch a bleak, common bleak