humorless

adjective

hu·​mor·​less ˈhyü-mər-ləs 

1

: lacking a sense of humor

2

: lacking humorous characteristics

humorlessly

ˈhyü-mər-ləs-lē 

adverb

humorlessness noun

Synonyms

• earnest
• grave
• no-nonsense
• po-faced [British]
• sedate
• serious
• severe
• sober
• sobersided
• solemn
• staid
• uncomic
• unsmiling
• weighty

Examples of humorless in a Sentence

humorless people who can't see the lighter side of life

Recent Examples on the Web

Worst of all, Phillips has intentionally or unintentionally created a bizarro, humorless version of My Cousin Vinny. —Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 4 Oct. 2024

Creating online classrooms as ‘humorless’ venues deprives both teachers and students of an incredibly powerful communication asset. —Maja Zelihic, Forbes, 21 Sep. 2024

His Rick Honeycutt is utterly humorless, but the movie isn’t; there are plenty of laughs in pitting his deadpan impatience — conveyed by an unsmiling mouth under a push-broom mustache — against the idiot confidence of Billy Crudup’s man-child entrepreneur. —A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024

Another criticism was Dragon generally had a depressive and humorless vibe (Martin’s books do not, and are full of dark humor, as was Thrones). —James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1671, in the meaning defined at sense 1