as in bleak
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
a dank and cheerless castle that was once the site of unspeakable horrors
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cheerless
For three days, things were cheerless for Courtney Williams.
—
Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 28 May 2025
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
Election polls may seem cheerless, inscrutable, and wrapped in data and murky terminology.
—W. Joseph Campbell, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2024
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
Their lives had been expended in cheerless labor, there wills broken, their intelligences numbed.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 5 July 2024
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
Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 28 May 2025
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
Election polls may seem cheerless, inscrutable, and wrapped in data and murky terminology.
—W. Joseph Campbell, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2024
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
Their lives had been expended in cheerless labor, there wills broken, their intelligences numbed.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 5 July 2024
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cheerless
Adjective
-
Yes, there are good reasons to question NASA's long-term plans for the Artemis lunar program—the woeful cost of the Space Launch System rocket, the complexity of new commercial landers, and a bleak budget outlook.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
-
That's rather bleak, while Charlie Sheen's life has just been bonkers.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
His work in those early days bears little resemblance to the crystalline large-format portraits of lonely American landscapes that would come to define his career.—
Chris Wiley,
New Yorker,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Quarterback is an isolating and lonely position, despite entire infrastructures reverse-engineered in service of those who play it, to say nothing of the elaborate playbooks created for them.—
Seth Wickersham,
The Atlantic,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The White House moved Thursday's 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon into the courtyard, away from the 9/11 memorial where the somber ceremony has been held for decades, in light of Kirk's killing.—
Alexandra Hutzler,
ABC News,
11 Sep. 2025
-
This was a somber visit, and the group was reverent, hushed.—
Jim Clash,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The night serum visibly smooths wrinkles, reduces fine lines, and soothes the appearance of dark circles and uneven skin tone.—
Gabriela Izquierdo,
Southern Living,
17 Sep. 2025
-
The scent is smoky yet sweet, spicy yet smooth, dark but with an underlying lightness—the result of combining clean white musk with rose, tobacco, suede, and cumin.—
Sophia Panych,
Allure,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
His relentless prepackaged positivity — even in the wake of depressing game day results — turned him into something of a punch line.—
Ian O'Connor,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The depressing effect of the seasonality is somewhat offset by the ‘5’ effect.—
Bill Sarubbi,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The lock screen on the Mac remains a desolate place, relative to the same area in both iOS and iPadOS—this is still a no-notifications, no-widgets zone that exists only to keep your Mac locked.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
15 Sep. 2025
-
While the rest of Burning Man celebrated, Kruglov lay prostrate on the ground at a faraway campsite in a comparatively desolate section of Black Rock City, his throat slashed, as a puddle of blood congealed around his lifeless body.—
Denver Nicks,
Rolling Stone,
14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Buchwald pointed to research from The Lancet Psychiatry which found adults who engaged in regular physical activity experienced a 25 percent reduction in depressive symptoms.—
Daniella Gray,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
-
As someone who has never been swayed by Gad’s particular brand of obnoxiously chipper humor, Noah’s depressive snark finds him in a much more comfortable register.—
Sam Bodrojan,
IndieWire,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Dude can’t carry the Rams to the postseason again all by his lonesome.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
19 Aug. 2025
-
Dylan took the exit on the county line and pulled into the lonesome border truck stop, pissed in the bathroom, paid for Bob’s coffee with cream and with sugar and took out three hundred dollars at the ATM.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cheerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheerless. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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