Example : The future looked black.
Prospects were bleak.
Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult.
Took a dim view of things.

Synonyms : black, dim

Example : Bare rocky hills.
Barren lands.
The bleak treeless regions of the high Andes.
The desolate surface of the moon.
A stark landscape.

Synonyms : bare, barren, desolate, stark

Example : Bleak winds of the North Atlantic.

Synonyms : cutting, raw