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sunless

sunless

3 3.6
Without direct light from the sky, often because of clouds
  • adjective
  • /ˈsʌnləs/
translation icon : sin sol
  • The sunless air was strangely still; the flags drooping on their tall poles.
  • sunless sky
  • sunless tanning
  • sunless day

He saw at once a famous landscape, the old brown, barren ascent with Tufts of dried out bone, like weeds poking slantedly into a dim and sunless sky.

Examples

  • After days of rain, the garden remained in a sunless state, leaving the flowers drooping and forlorn.

  • Burroughs described the native quarter of Tangier as a maze of sunless twisting streets filled with blind alleys.

  • The sunless sky was another sea above, as cold and merciless as the one below.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • They lived their whole lives in a cruel and sunless world.

  • Far away they could see the river turn bleak into the sunless sky, and the trees distant and dark.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • And when a moment ago he had been delighted to look out the window, now the atmosphere had changed to a drab and sunless afternoon.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • At a commanding gesture from the necromancer, the misty forms drew back, yet each kept near its corpse, like shadows in a sunless world.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • In Whitehorse, during the sunless winter, he learned Braille, mail-ordered shell books, and turned up logs after thaws to root for wood snails.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The hikers trudged through the dark, sunless forest, feeling the chill of the damp air.

  • On the sunless winter afternoons, the children played in the park, their laughter echoing in the gloomy light.

Synonyms

overcast
vssunless
20 1.4

Covered with clouds that make the sky look dull and gray

states absence of daylight without stressing mood or dullness
cloud-covered
vssunless
1 3.9

A sky or mountaintop full of clouds that hides the view

is about lacking daylight often because of cloud cover
clouded
vssunless
2.1

A sky full of clouds that hides the sun

refers specifically to lack of daylight rather than reduced clarity
unsunned
vssunless
8.4

Does not get direct sunlight and stays in shade

usually means lack of daylight due to weather, not just shade

Antonyms

226 1.0

Bright with sunlight or cheerful and pleasant like sunshine

Compounds

A time with little or no sunshine

How Sunny

sunny
226 1.0
sunlit
9 1.0
cloudy
51 1.0
overcast
20 1.4
sunless
3 3.6

Surface Forms

sunless positive

Morphology

sunless = sun (transparent) = sun + less

The adjective is derived by adding the productive suffix '-less' meaning 'without' to the noun 'sun', giving the straightforward meaning 'without sun'.

Etymology

Sunless is simply sun + -less, and -less means 'without', so it literally means 'without sun', just like homeless means 'without a home'. That's why sunless describes a cloudy, dark place with little or no sunlight.