dour – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of dour

Adjective: dour

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativedourer
Superlativedourest

Perifrastic

Comparativemore dour
Superlativemost dour

Sample Sentences

  • The principal reason is that, in competition with modern road vehicles running over motorways, B.R. has a dour struggle to match the performance of its rivals cost-wise. [1961 October, “Editorial: The importance of the "Roadrailer"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 577:]
  • I was reminded of the dour priests and salesmen of the nineteenth century who believed that the plebs wouldn’t be able to handle getting the vote, or a decent wage, or, least of all, leisure, and who backed the seventy-hour workweek as an efficacious instrument in the fight against liquor. [2017, chapter 6, in Elizabeth Manton, transl., Utopia for Realists, Kindle edition, Bloomsbury Publishing, translation of Gratis geld voor iedereen by Rutger Bregman, page 149:]
  • Hayek had contributed the foreword, in which he declared that “he got so fascinated” by the book—high praise from the dour Viennese sage—that he read it from start to finish in one sitting. [2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 4, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order […] , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part II. The Neoliberal Order, 1970–2020:]
  • Tuchel arrived in Belgrade insisting England were ready to improve and show their quality after the dour victories that have characterised their World Cup qualification campaign. [2025 September 9, Phil McNulty, “Serbia 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:]

Adjectives inflected like dour

wholsom, seldom, scared, solemn, silent, beloved, uptight, perfect, useless, up-tight, selfish, distinct, discreet, Dutch, reckless, bumfuck, worthless, slender, faithfull, shallow, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. Borrowed from Scots dour, possibly from Latin dūrus (“hard, stern”), via Middle Irish dúr.
2. Compare French dur, Catalan dur, Italian duro, Portuguese duro, Romanian dur, Spanish duro. Doublet of dure. See: Latin Adjectives 'dūrus', French Adjectives 'dur', Catalan Adjectives 'dur', Italian Adjectives 'duro', Portuguese Adjectives 'duro', Romanian Adjectives 'dur', Spanish Adjectives 'duro'.

Verbs referencing "dour"

Spanish Adjectives duro.