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Definition of "dour" []

  • Marked by sternness or harshness; forbidding: a dour, self-sacrificing life. (adjective)
  • Silently ill-humored; gloomy: the proverbially dour New England Puritan. (adjective)
  • Sternly obstinate; unyielding: a dour determination. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "dour" in a sentence
  • "In previous years, Arsenal were known as a dour, if effective, outfit, masters at eking out a 1-0 victory."
  • "The gray people, as a friend of mine called the dour-looking youths of the downtown arts crowd, stuffed into the room on old folding chairs and splintering benches, everyone stepping carefully amid broken floorboards and keeping one wary eye on the wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling."
  • "His sober replacement, Gordon Brown -- a man whose name rarely appears in print without the adjective "dour" -- is already more popular."