bleak

These rising costs, combined with bleak weather and a not inconsiderable outpouring of rabid anti-English messaging from Elon Musk, is hardly helping our cause.

Against that bleak background, having somewhere new to look is a source of optimism for some scientists.

I think it's bleak yet hopeful landscape captures well the turmoil of our world.

It’s harrowing to watch, yet bleak and unsurprising.

It's a bleak prospect, for the hostages and for two million Palestinians in Gaza who are trying to put their lives back together in the current, fragile peace.