- 1(of a situation) not encouraging or giving any reason to have hope a bleak outlook/prospect The future looks bleak for the fishing industry. The medical prognosis was bleak. They faced a financially bleak Christmas.
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- 2(of the weather) cold and unpleasant a bleak winter's day
- 3(of a place) exposed, empty, or with no pleasant features a bleak landscape/hillside/expanse bleak concrete housing
adverb “There seems no hope,” she said bleakly. bleakly lit hallways It was a bleakly impressive coastline.
noun [uncountable]See bleak in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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