What is another word for bleakness?

Pronunciation: [blˈiːknəs] (IPA)

Bleakness is a word that describes a situation or place that is empty, depressing, and lacking in cheerfulness or hope. There are several synonyms for the word 'bleakness', including desolation, dreariness, darkness, misery, hopelessness, barrenness, and gloom. All of these words convey a sense of sadness and despair, resulting in conditions that are unpleasant or threatening. In terms of the environment, some words that portray bleakness include barren, desolate, and eerie. On the other hand, related to feelings of hopelessness or negativity, we can use words such as dismal, depressing, gloomy, or melancholy. Whatever word we use, they all express a sense of despair that makes the reader or listener feel a sense of unease or even fear.

Synonyms for Bleakness:

What are the hypernyms for Bleakness?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

What are the opposite words for bleakness?

Bleakness is a word used to describe a stark, cold and gloomy feeling. The opposite of bleakness could be cheerfulness, warmth, and radiance. Brightness is an antonym for bleakness, where light and sunshine bring about a positive energy that contrast with bare and oppressive living. Other antonyms to bleakness include liveliness, happiness, hope and encouragement, bringing relief from the desolate world of sorrow and depression. Moreover, optimism, trust and harmony provide an opposition to bleakness, conveying a confidence, positivity and hopefulness that boosts our spirits and lightens our hearts. Antonyms for bleakness can make us feel more alive, joyful and enthusiastic.

Usage examples for Bleakness

The land is seen to be useless for agricultural purposes; habitations first become rare, then almost entirely cease, bleakness reigning supreme, while one seems to be creeping higher and higher on the earth.
"Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia"
Maturin M. Ballou
Such a withdrawal of approval would have made any other pastor's life a thing of chill and bleakness; Herr Dremmel hardly observed it.
"The Pastor's Wife"
Elizabeth von Arnim
The inevitable great, dark, useless hall was robbed of its coldness and bleakness by soft Turkish rugs placed over the polished floor.
"Throckmorton"
Molly Elliot Seawell

Famous quotes with Bleakness

  • Everything's complicated, even those things that seem flat in their bleakness or sadness.
    Nick Hornby
  • Darwin grasped the philosophical bleakness with his characteristic courage. He argued that hope and morality cannot, and should not, be passively read in the construction of nature. Aesthetic and moral truths, as concepts, must be shaped in human terms, not “discovered” in nature. We must formulate these answers for ourselves and then approach nature as a partner who can answer other kinds of questions for us—questions about the factual state of the universe, not about the meaning of human life. If we grant nature the independence of her own domain—her answers unframed in human terms—then we can grasp her exquisite beauty in a free and humble way. For then we become liberated to approach nature without the burden of an inappropriate and impossible quest for moral messages to assuage our hopes and fears. We can pay our proper respect to nature's independence and read her own ways as beauty or inspiration in our different terms.
    Stephen Jay Gould
  • There is a certain bleakness in finding hope where one expected certainty. Arren found himself unwilling to stay on these cold summits. He said after a little while, “I see why you say that only men do evil, I think. Even sharks are innocent; they kill because they must.” "That is why nothing else can resist us. Only one thing in the world can resist an evil-hearted man. And that is another man. In our shame is our glory. Only our spirit, which is capable of evil, is capable of overcoming it.”
    Ursula K. Le Guin
  • “Anita,” he asked, “are there really werewolves?” “Yes,” she told him. “Your werewolves are down there.” And that was right, he thought. The darkness of the mind, the bleakness of the thought, the shallowness of purpose. These were the werewolves of the world.
    Clifford D. Simak
  • Augustine’s importance to the subsequent history of Europe is impossible to exaggerate. His political theory, which is all we focus on here, was a very small part of what he wrote in some 113 books and innumerable letters and sermons. Nonetheless, it is pregnant with arguments that racked not only Christian Europe but the modern world: how seriously should a Christian with his eyes on eternity take the politics of this earthly life; is it the duty of the state to protect the church, repress heresy, and ensure that its citizens adhere to the one true faith; absent a Christian ruler, are we absolved of the duty to obey our rulers, or must we follow Saint Paul’s injunction to “obey the powers that be”? More generally, Augustine articulated distinctive and long-lived thoughts on matters that remain controversial: the nature of just war, the illegitimacy of the death penalty, the limits of earthly justice. The fact that his views on all these matters were embedded in a theology of some bleakness does not mean that they do not survive on their own merits. One needs only the barest sympathy with the thought that we are fallen creatures to find many of his views deeply appealing, far from cheerful as they may be.
    Augustine of Hippo

Related words: the darkness of the world, dark past, death, gloominess, darkness, grim, dark side of society, the darkness

Related questions:

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