Meaning & use
bleak
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Without hope; making you feel that a bad situation will not improve.
Grammar: Used mostly before nouns or after linking verbs like be, look, seem: The future looks bleak.
Patterns
- a bleak future
- bleak prospects
- look bleak
- a bleak outlook
After the factory closed, the town's future looked bleak.
The report paints a bleak picture of the region's economy.
His chances of winning the election are bleak.
adjectivecomparable
Empty, cold, and without anything to make it look pleasant or welcoming.
Grammar: Often describes places, weather, or scenery; can come before a noun or after be.
Patterns
- a bleak landscape
- a bleak winter day
- bleak and bare
We walked across a bleak stretch of moorland with no trees in sight.
The house stood on a bleak hillside, far from any neighbors.
It was a bleak morning, gray and windy.
adjectivecomparableliterary
Lacking warmth or kindness in a way that feels sad and unfriendly.
Grammar: Describes things like voices, expressions, or statements rather than places.
Patterns
- a bleak expression
- a bleak tone
She answered in a bleak voice that told me she had given up.
There was a bleak humor in his description of the disaster.
Word forms
| comparative | bleaker |
|---|---|
| superlative | bleakest |
Common combinations
- a bleak future
- Without new investment, the industry faces a bleak future.
- bleak prospects
- Graduates with no work experience often have bleak prospects.
- a bleak landscape
- The painting shows a bleak landscape of rocks and snow.
- look bleak
- Things looked bleak until the rescue team arrived.
- a bleak picture
- The survey paints a bleak picture of life in the inner city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- grim
- Grim is stronger and suggests something serious and frightening, while bleak stresses emptiness and lack of hope.
- desolate
- Desolate describes a place that is empty and abandoned; bleak can also describe feelings and situations, not just places.
- dismal
- Dismal is more informal and often means simply bad or depressing, whereas bleak often suggests no hope of improvement.
Opposites
Word family
- bleakly adverb
- in a bleak or hopeless way
- bleakness noun
- the quality of being bleak or without hope
Commonly confused: bleak or bleakly?
bleak vs bleakly
This is the adverb; use bleak for describing a noun or after a linking verb, and bleakly for describing how something is done.
Practice
Which sentence uses bleak correctly?
Choose one answer.
Bleak is an adjective, so it fits after 'was' to describe the weather. The other options use it as a verb or misuse the adverb form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bleak”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.