mirthless

adjective

Definition of mirthlessnext
as in woebegone

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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 One thing the record makes clear is that Anderson is not afraid to mix humor into her work, proving that avant-garde performance mustn’t be mirthless or without joy. — David Harris, SPIN, 11 May 2026 Historically, autocrats are a mirthless bunch. — David Remnick, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2025 Splashes of elegance in gravestone carving appear as the mirthless old Puritans die, people get richer, and London goes royal. — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mirthless
  1. woebegone
  2. cheerless
  3. sad
  4. lugubrious
  5. melancholy
  6. morose
  7. melancholic
  8. dejected
Adjective
  • Brewer was hired two years ago after more than a decade as head coach at perennial power Georgia, part of a commitment by the school and a motivated (and wealthy) alumni group willing to pump resources into a woebegone golf program.
    — Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 May 2026
  • After three seasons of almost nothing but dread and sorrow, the NBA’s most woebegone franchise, for generations, finally had a moment to celebrate.
    — David Aldridge, New York Times, 11 May 2026
Definition of woebegone
Adjective
  • The storm let up before daybreak, but the morning was gray and cheerless with a cold wind.
    — Elwyn "Bud" Myers, Outdoor Life, 11 Mar. 2026
  • 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
Definition of cheerless
Adjective
  • Said sad attraction is not exactly comparable to Buckingham Fountain.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Their deaths were a sad reminder of the danger that pneumococcal pneumonia poses to older adults.
    — Mark Marino, PEOPLE, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of sad
Adjective
  • Reaction has been predictably lugubrious, although laced with gratitude and occasional humor.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 19 June 2026
  • Cancer House make downer music with the same allure, where all things lugubrious offer a strange, addictive solace.
    — Joshua Minsoo Kim, Pitchfork, 13 Apr. 2026
Definition of lugubrious
Adjective
  • What reads at a casual distance as serene maternal tenderness shifts, on closer inspection, into something more ambivalent—a shade of melancholy that surfaces only when the eye lingers on Mary’s face.
    — Carmen Rosenberg-Miller, Artforum, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Midland put their stamp on the idea by maintaining those mixed emotions of melancholy and excitement; the romance but also the rootlessness of a life spent on the road.
    — Stephen Deusner, SPIN, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of melancholy
Adjective
  • The first leg will be the ever-popular third-place playoff, in which a couple of morose losers compete for no trophy at all and a chance to show off the superior sourness of their grapes.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026
  • Life without either, the pair determine, has left Leonora morose, maladjusted and desperate to claw her way back to the road not taken.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
Definition of morose
Adjective
  • Like its video, the song is a misdirect, its melancholic tone undercut by the swagger of its vocalist.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Later, another nerdy boy will fall prey to their antics, yet there’s no gruesome violence on sight, only a melancholic and ethereal exorcizing of the demons that plague Emily’s heart.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 20 July 2026
Definition of melancholic
Adjective
  • In Brand New Day, Peter resumes his duties as a friendly neighborhood superhero in New York City, but also remains dejected that MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are moving on with their lives without any memory of his love and friendship.
    — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
  • The sea of yellow applauding the efforts of the dejected Brazilian players who milled about, seemingly unwilling to accept that a match that took so long to really get going was over so quickly.
    — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 5 July 2026
Definition of dejected

Browse Nearby Words

mirthfulness
mirthless
mirthlessly
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Cite this Entry

“Mirthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mirthless. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on mirthless

Nglish: Translation of mirthless for Spanish Speakers

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