Synonyms of sulky

sulky

adjective

ˈsəl-kē 

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

• pouting
• irritable
• sullen
• pouty
• surly
• glum
• brooding
• mopey
• morose
• petulant
• dour
• down in the mouth
• cross
• peevish
• grumpy
• sensitive
• irascible
• snappish
• waspish
• grouchy
• gloomy
• disagreeable
• pettish
• crotchety
• testy
• crabby
• choleric
• snarky
• raspy
• cantankerous
• ornery
• dyspeptic
• snippy
• cranky
• short-tempered
• bilious
• tetchy
• huffy
• ill-tempered
• temperamental
• ratty
• quick-tempered
• perverse
• moping
• prickly
• ill-humored
• ill-natured
• snappy
• touchy
• snippety
• bearish
• thin-skinned

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cheerful
• sociable
• cheery
• good-natured
• sunny
• perky
• carefree
• easygoing
• good-tempered
• relaxed
• good-humored
• gladsome
• happy-go-lucky

Synonym Chooser

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

Examples of sulky in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the late 1990s, Louis Easton was a sulky teen when his horticulturist father introduced him to plant care and merchandising. —Jeanette Marantosstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2022

No new facts are necessary to demonstrate that Trump was a sulky, smooth-brained baby, prone to fits of pouty anger, enabled by a coterie of vile liars and violent stooges. —Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 2 July 2022

Both wrote famously about the Santa Anas — the former describing them as a driver of bar fights and murder, the latter as a cause of sulky maids and screaming peacocks. —Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2022

Director Pablo Larraín, the Chilean cynic whose niche is sentimentalizing Western icons (Tony Manero, Jackie) uses Stewart’s sulky manner with precision. —Armond White, National Review, 10 Nov. 2021