cheerless

adjective

cheer·​less ˈchir-ləs How to pronounce cheerless (audio)
: lacking qualities that cheer : bleak, joyless
a cheerless room
cheerlessly adverb
cheerlessness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for cheerless

dismal, dreary, bleak, gloomy, cheerless, desolate mean devoid of cheer or comfort.

dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

Examples of cheerless in a Sentence

The room was surprisingly bare and cheerless. a dank and cheerless castle that was once the site of unspeakable horrors
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
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 Election polls may seem cheerless, inscrutable, and wrapped in data and murky terminology. W. Joseph Campbell, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2024 Their lives had been expended in cheerless labor, there wills broken, their intelligences numbed. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 5 July 2024 Photo: Gregg Segal One day in 2003, Joseph Schulman faced a half-dozen or so military officers in a cheerless high-rise office outside the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. Ariel Bleicher, IEEE Spectrum, 20 Mar. 2013 That turned an entertaining exhibition into an awkward and cheerless faux-competitive affair. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2022 For all his gloom, Mann was not entirely cheerless. Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2021 Lawrence’s was among the last, with a green campus full of trees, but a gray, cheerless interior and food that, in his words, looked regurgitated. Sarah Enelow-Snyder, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2020 Bishop spent a cold childhood raised by cheerless Calvinist grandparents (her official guardian, Uncle Jack, was reputedly something of a bully), and quickly learned that intense emotional attachments led to distress. Scott Bradfield, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1575, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cheerless was in 1575

Dictionary Entries Near cheerless

Cite this Entry

“Cheerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheerless. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

cheerless

adjective
cheer·​less ˈchi(ə)r-ləs How to pronounce cheerless (audio)
: offering no cheer : gloomy
cheerlessly adverb
cheerlessness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on cheerless

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!