1without anything to make you feel cheerful or hopefulSYN hopeless: the bleakest year of the Depression It looks pretty bleak for farmers here.bleak future/prospect/outlook etc. Children in these camps face a bleak future.2cold and without any pleasant or comfortable features: a bleak January afternoon The coast looked bleak and uninviting. [Origin: 1300–1400 Old Norse bleikr pale, white]—bleakly adverb—bleakness noun [uncountable]