Definition of "bleak" []

• Gloomy and somber: "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult” ( John Millington Synge). (adjective)
• Providing no encouragement; depressing: a bleak prospect. (adjective)
• Cold and cutting; raw: bleak winds of the North Atlantic. (adjective)
• Exposed to the elements; unsheltered and barren: the bleak, treeless regions of the high Andes. (adjective)
• A small European freshwater fish of the genus Alburnus that is related to the carp and has silvery scales used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. (noun)

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.

• "The thought of Nick standing there in the stables, his expression bleak and angry, tall and dark yet so oddly comfortable and easy to be with, made the breath catch in her throat."
• "Then again, Amanda is not a big fan of what she calls bleak medicalized definitions."
• "Major themes are rebellion against authority and wanderings in bleak, post-apocalyptic landscapes."