bleak1
adj.
- bare and exposed to the elements:
a bleak moor.
▸charmless and inhospitable; dreary.
▸(of the weather) cold and miserable.
- (of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging.
Derivative
- bleakly adv.
- bleakness n.
Etymology
OE blāc ‘shining, white’, or from ON bleikr; ult. of Gmc origin and rel. to bleach.
bleak2
n.
a small silvery river fish of the carp family.
[
Alburnus alburnus and other species.]
Etymology
C15: from ON bleikja.