The word dour has appeared in 62 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 4 in “Take a Look at the Inspirations Behind ‘The Witcher’” by Elisabeth Vincentelli:

When she started on the series, Schmidt Hissrich felt it was important to understand where Sapkowski came from. Her research included going on a two-week trip to Poland and following Polish photographers on Instagram. Among them was Michal Koralewski, whose image of the Old Town in the medieval city of Poznan has been on her wall for a few years now.

“Fantasy is often represented as dire and dour and gray, and it’s all dusty because it’s the worst time in the world,’ ” she said, laughing. “One of the things that I wanted to bring to ‘The Witcher’ is a sense of light and color, so I was immediately attracted to the colors, the buildings, the brightness in the photo.”

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word dour in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how dour can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

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Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.