Gloomy, dismal, or depressing; showing little cheer or pleasantness.
From Old English dreore, related to dread. The word evolved from an earlier sense of 'fearful' or 'dreadful' into its modern meaning of bleak and joyless, influenced by Middle English dreren (to suffer).
The word 'drear' almost disappeared from English, but poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge revived it in the 19th century for its melancholic sound—the double 'e' gives it a wailing quality that perfectly matches its meaning.
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