SULKY Synonyms: 64 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'sulky' different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of sulky are crabbed , gloomy , glum , morose , saturnine , sullen , and surly . While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness. // grew sulky after every spat

Q: Where would 'crabbed' be a reasonable alternative to 'sulky'?

The words crabbed and sulky can be used in similar contexts, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner. // the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

Q: When is 'gloomy' a more appropriate choice than 'sulky'?

While the synonyms gloomy and sulky are close in meaning, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness. // a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

Q: When can 'glum' be used instead of 'sulky'?

The words glum and sulky are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness. // a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

Q: How do 'morose' and 'glum' relate to one another, in the sense of 'sulky'?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy. // morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

Q: When would 'saturnine' be a good substitute for 'sulky'?

In some situations, the words saturnine and sulky are roughly equivalent. However, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition. // a saturnine cynic always finding fault

Q: In what contexts can 'sullen' take the place of 'sulky'?

While in some cases nearly identical to sulky , sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable. // remained sullen amid the festivities

Q: When could 'surly' be used to replace 'sulky'?

The synonyms surly and sulky are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner. // a typical surly teenager

sulky

adjective

ˈsəl-kē

Definition of sulky

as in pouting

given to or displaying a resentful silence and often irritability our teenage daughter turns sulky if we refuse to let her borrow the car

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How is the word sulky different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of sulky are crabbed, gloomy, glum, morose, saturnine, sullen, and surly. While all these words mean "showing a forbidding or disagreeable mood," sulky suggests childish resentment expressed in peevish sullenness.

grew sulky after every spat

Where would crabbed be a reasonable alternative to sulky?

The words crabbed and sulky can be used in similar contexts, but crabbed applies to a forbidding morose harshness of manner.

the school's notoriously crabbed headmaster

When is gloomy a more appropriate choice than sulky?

While the synonyms gloomy and sulky are close in meaning, gloomy implies a depression in mood making for seeming sullenness or glumness.

a gloomy mood ushered in by bad news

When can glum be used instead of sulky?

The words glum and sulky are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, glum suggests a silent dispiritedness.

a glum candidate left to ponder a stunning defeat

How do morose and glum relate to one another, in the sense of sulky?

Morose adds to glum an element of bitterness or misanthropy.

morose job seekers who are inured to rejection

When would saturnine be a good substitute for sulky?

In some situations, the words saturnine and sulky are roughly equivalent. However, saturnine describes a heavy forbidding aspect or suggests a bitter disposition.

a saturnine cynic always finding fault

In what contexts can sullen take the place of sulky?

While in some cases nearly identical to sulky, sullen implies a silent ill humor and a refusal to be sociable.

remained sullen amid the festivities

When could surly be used to replace sulky?

The synonyms surly and sulky are sometimes interchangeable, but surly implies gruffness and sullenness of speech or manner.

a typical surly teenager

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sulky Still, Ortega’s performance proves that sulky, baleful gravity doesn’t have to lose its strange luster over time (a third season has already been announced). — Tom Gliatto, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2025 Skillfully carrying the tale as Kimberly is Ann Morrison, marvelously placing the qualities of a bubbly when not sulky teen in the voice and body of an older woman. — Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, 25 Feb. 2026 After a strange courtship ritual—in which, as a favor to Liveright, Cerf accompanied the writer Theodore Dreiser to an afternoon baseball game that the latter man, bored, sulky, whisked them from around the sixth inning—Cerf took the job. — Literary Hub, 25 Nov. 2025 Founder Max Siegelman drew upon his family’s harness racing roots thanks to the boarding and teaching facility for the sport involving the powerful animal, a sulky and human direction that dates to the 1800s in the US. — Roxanne Robinson, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sulky

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sulky

Adjective

The symptoms are so delayed that people often blame them on food poisoning, irritable-bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance.

— Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Cancer could be affectionate and chatty one moment, and withdrawn and irritable the next, with little to no explanation.

— Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 23 June 2026

Definition of irritable

Adjective

While Jolie-Pitt's cameo in the teaser was only a few seconds long, her pouty lip and bright blue eyes unmistakably bore a striking resemblance to Jolie's.

— Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 3 Apr. 2026
None of their full faces are shown — only close-ups of pouty lips, sleek updos, fierce manicures, etc.

— Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 30 Jan. 2026

Definition of pouty

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“Sulky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sulky. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of sulky

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