CHEERLESS Synonyms: 115 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the adjective 'cheerless' contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of cheerless are bleak , desolate , dismal , dreary , and gloomy . While all these words mean "devoid of cheer or comfort," cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering. // a drab and cheerless office

Q: When could 'bleak' be used to replace 'cheerless'?

The meanings of bleak and cheerless largely overlap; however, bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten. // the bleak years of the depression

Q: Where would 'desolate' be a reasonable alternative to 'cheerless'?

In some situations, the words desolate and cheerless are roughly equivalent. However, desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect. // a desolate outpost

Q: When is it sensible to use 'dismal' instead of 'cheerless'?

While in some cases nearly identical to cheerless , dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess. // dismal weather

Q: When might 'dreary' be a better fit than 'cheerless'?

The synonyms dreary and cheerless are sometimes interchangeable, but dreary , often interchangeable with dismal , emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility. // a dreary job

Q: When is 'gloomy' a more appropriate choice than 'cheerless'?

While the synonyms gloomy and cheerless are close in meaning, gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise. // gloomy war news

cheerless

adjective

ˈchir-ləs

Definition of cheerless next

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How does the adjective cheerless contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of cheerless are bleak, desolate, dismal, dreary, and gloomy. While all these words mean "devoid of cheer or comfort," cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

When could bleak be used to replace cheerless?

The meanings of bleak and cheerless largely overlap; however, bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

Where would desolate be a reasonable alternative to cheerless?

In some situations, the words desolate and cheerless are roughly equivalent. However, desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

When is it sensible to use dismal instead of cheerless?

While in some cases nearly identical to cheerless, dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

When might dreary be a better fit than cheerless?

The synonyms dreary and cheerless are sometimes interchangeable, but dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

When is gloomy a more appropriate choice than cheerless?

While the synonyms gloomy and cheerless are close in meaning, gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

Examples 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 cheerless 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cheerless

Adjective

Matt Harrison, president of Kuka Home North America, which has a furniture manufacturing base in Monterrey, fears the future could be bleak.

— David Culver, CNN, 18 Jan. 2025
For many civilians, a future with both Israel and Hamas in the picture is bleak.

— Adam Rasgon, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025