sulky

/ˈsʌlki/

/ˈsʌlki/

Other forms: sulkies; sulkier; sulkiest

Someone who's sulky is gloomy, or quietly unhappy. A sulky teenager is generally not a lot of fun at a family party.

Some people tend to be sulky when they're unhappy or disappointed — when you're sulky, you're not just sad, but you mope and frown and sigh. You might be sulky if your brother gets to travel to England and you don't, or if your coworker gets a promotion instead of you. Sulky probably comes from an Old English word, asolcen, "idle, lazy, or slow," which has a Proto-Germanic root.

Definitions of sulky

1. adjective

   sullen or moody
   synonyms: huffish

   ill-natured

   having an irritable and unpleasant disposition
2. adjective

   depressingly dark
   synonyms: gloomful, glooming, gloomy

   dark

   devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black
3. adjective

   moving slowly
   synonyms: sluggish

   slow

   not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time
4. noun

   a light two-wheeled vehicle for one person; drawn by one horse
   type of:

   horse-drawn vehicle

   a wheeled vehicle drawn by one or more horses