the.com/sullen
the art of being furious without spending a single word on it.
means Showing one's bad mood through silence, gloom, and a refusal to engage rather than open anger.
from From Anglo-French 'solein,' meaning solitary or alone, which traces back to Latin 'solus,' "alone." The sense slid from "keeping to oneself" to "being aloof and ill-humored" — as if the original loner's silence curdled, over time, into a mood.
- latin root
- from solus, meaning alone and apart
- silent storm
- anger that sulks instead of shouts
- weather term
- also describes gloomy, oppressive skies
- teenage signature
- the universal slammed-door dialect
for instance
bartleby the scrivener — herman melville's 1853 character who responds to all requests with 'i would prefer not to'
heathcliff wuthering heights — emily brontë's darkly morose protagonist who spends decades nursing silent resentment