Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dreary \Drear"y\, a. [Compar. {Drearier}; superl. {Dreariest}.]
   [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dre['o]rig, sad; akin to G. traurig,
   and prob. to AS. dre['o]san to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf.
   {Dross}, {Drear}, {Drizzle}, {Drowse}.]
   1. Sorrowful; distressful. [Obs.] `` Dreary shrieks.''
      --Spenser.

   2. Exciting cheerless sensations, feelings, or associations;
      comfortless; dismal; gloomy. `` Dreary shades.'' --Dryden.
      ``The dreary ground.'' --Prior.

            Full many a dreary anxious hour.      --Keble.

            Johnson entered on his vocation in the most dreary
            part of that dreary interval which separated two
            ages of prosperity.                   --Macaulay.

Source : WordNet®

dreary
     adj 1: depressing in character or appearance; "drove through dingy
            streets"; "the dismal prison twilight"- Charles
            Dickens; "drab old buildings"; "a dreary mining town";
            "gloomy tenements"; "sorry routine that follows on the
            heels of death"- B.A.Williams [syn: {dingy}, {dismal},
             {drab}, {drear}, {gloomy}, {sorry}]
     2: lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise; "her drab
        personality"; "life was drab compared with the more
        exciting life style overseas"; "a series of dreary dinner
        parties" [syn: {drab}]
     [also: {dreariest}, {drearier}]

drearier
     See {dreary}