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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Recent Examples of cheerless
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
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
Sarah Lustbader, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cheerless
Adjective
-
Outside of the December slide, this is as bleak as it’s looked for the Rangers this season.—
Arthur Staple,
The Athletic,
21 Mar. 2025
-
Voters were also asked to give one word to describe the Democratic Party, and the responses were bleak.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Being lonely is terrible for a person’s mental health.—
Kara Alaimo,
CNN Money,
31 Mar. 2025
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The results were conclusive: More than two-thirds (69%) of seniors felt lonely a majority of the time (50% of the time or more) before moving into a senior living community.—
Sara Zeff Geber,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Among the greater Eilish team, the sentiment is that of a somber parting, but there remains great respect and appreciation for the tremendous successes, milestones and memories shared with Rukasin and Goodman.—
Shirley Halperin,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Mar. 2025
-
The Opening Day festivities in the Bronx took on a somber tone Thursday as the Yankees honored the late son of former outfielder Brett Gardner.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Its cap is a shriveled mass of brown folds, darker than the caramel hue of the true morel.—
Shayla Love,
The Atlantic,
23 Mar. 2025
-
The couple even hires a nanny to care for the doll but shortly after her arrival, strange occurrences begin leading them down a dark path.—
Keith Langston,
People.com,
23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The truth is more depressing: This show is bad in the usual manner of reality television.—
Peter Tonguette,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
21 Mar. 2025
-
That wasn’t even the most depressing of Vlasic’s quotes.—
Scott Powers,
The Athletic,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Fourteen years of war have left the country desolate, and its people exhausted; millions have been displaced or were forced to become refugees.—
Raghed Waked & Justin Salhani,
The Dial,
25 Mar. 2025
-
That quality is maintained first and foremost by a desolate whistling-wind sound effect in the background of all the scenes, along with a sustained droning musical score.—
Ben Coxworth,
New Atlas,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Mindfulness mediates the association between chronotype and depressive symptoms in young adults.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
21 Mar. 2025
-
There are four basic types of the disorder, which are characterized by periods of elation and hyper-activity known as manic episodes, which are then followed by depressive stages where the patient experiences feelings of sadness and depression.—
Vanessa Etienne,
People.com,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The cowboy is a longstanding symbol of North America, and is romanticized as a ‘real man,’ the strong silent type, lonesome, self-reliant and emotionally distant.—
Cecilia Rodriguez,
Forbes,
2 Mar. 2025
-
Kelce, all by his lonesome away from the main field, sprinted through route after route — stop-start motions that require explosive movements off the line and at the top of the routes.—
Sam McDowell,
Kansas City Star,
8 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cheerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheerless. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
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