BLEAK

black, bleak, dim

(adjective) offering little or no hope; “the future looked black”; “prospects were bleak”; “Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult”- J.M.Synge; “took a dim view of things”

bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark

(adjective) providing no shelter or sustenance; “bare rocky hills”; “barren lands”; “the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes”; “the desolate surface of the moon”; “a stark landscape”

bleak, cutting, raw

(adjective) unpleasantly cold and damp; “bleak winds of the North Atlantic”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Adjective

bleak (comparative bleaker, superlative bleakest)

Without color; pale; pallid.

Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.

Unhappy; cheerless; miserable; emotionally desolate.

Synonyms

• (sickly pale): see also pallid

Etymology 2

Noun

bleak (plural bleaks or bleak)

A small European river fish (Alburnus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidae.

Synonyms

• ablet

• alburn

• blay

Anagrams

• Balke, Blake, Kaleb, blake

Source: Wiktionary

Bleak, a. Etym: [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. blac, bl, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. bl, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. blican to shine; akin to OHG. blichen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. to burn, shine, Skr. bhraj to shine, and E. flame. Bleach, Blink, Flame.]

1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.] When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead. Foxe.

2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds. Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth, the foodful ear. Wordsworth. At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. Longfellow.

3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.

– Bleak"ish, a.

– Bleak"ly, adv.

– Bleak"ness, n.

Bleak, n. Etym: [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] (Zoöl.)

Definition: A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidæ; the blay. [Written also blick.]

Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. Baird.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition