Meaning & use
sulk
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Meanings
verbintransitivedisapproving
To stay silent and in a bad mood because you are angry or disappointed, and want others to notice.
Grammar: No object: he sulked all afternoon.
Patterns
- sulk about something
- sulk over something
- sulk in your room
He sulked in his room after losing the game.
Stop sulking and join us for dinner.
She sulked for hours because she could not go.
nouncountableinformal
A period of silent, resentful bad mood.
Grammar: Often after in or have: she is in a sulk.
Patterns
- in a sulk
- have a sulk
He went into a sulk when we changed plans.
She is in a sulk again.
Word forms
| third person singular | sulks |
|---|---|
| past tense | sulked |
| past participle | sulked |
| -ing form | sulking |
| plural | sulks |
Common combinations
- sulk in your room
- He sulked in his room.
- sulk about
- Do not sulk about it.
- have a sulk
- She had a sulk after the argument.
- sulk like a child
- He sulked like a child.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pout
- Pout focuses on the facial expression, with pushed-out lips.
- brood
- Brood is deeper, involving long, gloomy thought.
- mope
- Mope suggests sad listlessness more than resentment.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: sulk or sulfur?
sulk vs sulfur
A chemical element, unrelated.
Practice
After being told he could not go out, Leo ______ in his room all evening.
Choose one answer.
Sulk means to be silently resentful. The other options do not fit being forbidden.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sulk”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.