mirthless

adjective

Definition of mirthlessnext
as in woebegone

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mirthless Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant. — Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024 His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate. — Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024 Susan Faludi Laugh-In On the joyful Kamala Harris and the mirthless Donald Trump Nathaniel Rich Silent Spring Why aren’t the candidates talking about climate change? — Patricia J. Williams, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mirthless
  1. woebegone
  2. cheerless
  3. sad
  4. lugubrious
  5. morose
  6. melancholic
  7. melancholy
  8. dejected
Adjective
  • Sunday, the Sox, who are now an impossibly bad 31-100, locked up the sixth triple-digit-loss season in their woebegone history with a 9-4 defeat at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.
    — Jon Greenberg, The Athletic, 25 Aug. 2024
  • This is what passes for epiphany for the solemn, solitary Jane, who searches for self-knowledge in a woebegone key.
    — Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
Definition of woebegone
Adjective
  • Gomez gestured across the street toward 100 Centre Street—the criminal courthouse, a cheerless Art Deco building the color of cinder blocks.
    — Sarah Lustbader, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
  • Wedged between the cheerless skyscrapers of Third Avenue and an uncharming stretch of Second, just blocks north of the bro bars of Murray Hill, is a row of nine townhouses.
    — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 2 Aug. 2024
Definition of cheerless
Adjective
  • Family members and two of his lawyers say he was diagnosed with severe PTSD, a sad and rapid fall that ended in another explosion of violence.
    — Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 16 Mar. 2025
  • Staying true to its sad sierreño roots, Eslabon Armado delivered a 15-songs moody set that navigates different emotions from love, loss, nostalgia, and moving on.
    — Jessica Roiz, Billboard, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of sad
Adjective
  • Despite its lugubrious atmosphere, the characters’ problems could now be cleared up with some penicillin and, say, a book club.
    — Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2025
  • Look at picture No. 107 in the exhibition of 1874: another of Morisot’s lugubrious bourgeois bachelorettes.
    — The Learning Network, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
Definition of lugubrious
Adjective
  • In this family road-trip pic set during the 2008 financial crisis, one disturbing sequence after another is played out on the morose face of John Magaro, who is clearly keeping the truth from them — and us — of what this journey is actually all about.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 2 Feb. 2025
  • The always astonishing Ben Whishaw plays the sweet, morose, gay, chain-smoking, furtively sincere, faraway-eyed Hujar, a veteran freelance photographer who was just coming into his own as a gallery artist and downtown scenester.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Jan. 2025
Definition of morose
Adjective
  • The video starts with a melancholic Gomez laying on the couch of a home covered in linens.
    — Thania Garcia, Variety, 21 Mar. 2025
  • West Orlando’s Pig the Gemini isn’t new to the melancholic pianos and wounded melodies that permeate the South.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of melancholic
Adjective
  • The Welsh quartet’s Dead Meat follow-up takes DNA from the Smiths’ melancholy exuberance, the Go-Betweens’ windswept gusto, and gung-ho London punk fervor to formulate a disempowered power-pop that spins insecurity and grief into bundles of melodic joy.
    — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Luckily, Pattinson manages to keep things buoyant without diluting the late-capitalism metaphors or the melancholy existentialism.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Mar. 2025
Definition of melancholy
Adjective
  • Yet people remain dejected about the economy, according to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment.
    — Josh Boak, Fortune, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Loneliness is on the rise in the American workforce and may be a major reason so many people feel dejected and uninspired at their desks.
    — Kells McPhillips, Fortune Well, 16 Oct. 2023
Definition of dejected

Browse Nearby Words

mirthless
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mirthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mirthless. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on mirthless

Nglish: Translation of mirthless for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Words You Always Have to Look Up

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular Features

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-in-disguise
Rhyme Disguise Quiz Pair up words that look different but sound alike.
See All