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
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
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
-
The picture looks bleak in the U.S. and in France the company is entering receivership.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
24 Feb. 2025
-
The tiny graves at one end of the orphanage compound are a bleak reminder of what a future without USAID might look like for the children.—
Nicholas Komu,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Bill’s smarm has calcified into a kind of mad obsession; Hal is a starkly lonely and cowardly man.—
Angelica Jade Bastién,
Vulture,
22 Feb. 2025
-
Prepare For It To Be A Lonely Road I was told that entrepreneurship is a lonely road.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Following his release, Yarden was met by his sister and father in a somber reunion.—
Mohammed Tawfeeq,
CNN,
21 Feb. 2025
-
The image of Kurdi, dead and face down in the sand, soon became a somber meme—one that, for a while, helped garner widespread sympathy and financial support for refugees landing by the thousands on Greece’s shores.—
Lauren Markham,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
An open-wide view is way more important than a dark sky.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes,
27 Feb. 2025
-
The fire broke out when the bus was on the corner of Cambridge and Northampton roads in the Cleveland area, filling the suburban street with a dark cloud of smoke.—
Kyla Guilfoil,
NBC News,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Whether the Nationals pitching staff can hold up, healthy and effective in an incredibly difficult division, is another pressing question — with a depressing answer: probably not — but at least the bats will be worth watching.—
The Athletic MLB Staff,
The Athletic,
12 Feb. 2025
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Listen to this article Super Bowl parties are on the rise this year thanks to the need to decompress from a most depressing start to 2025, along with the rising cost of packages at bars and restaurants.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
In video after video, young people complained about missing their high school graduations and senior proms, of the desolate college campuses that welcomed them and the increasingly precarious economy that waited for them on the other side.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
14 Feb. 2025
-
The work follows two soldiers from opposing nations who are stationed at a shared barrack on a desolate border.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
13 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Stimulants can also worsen depressive symptoms.1 In addition to SSRIs, other classes of antidepressants can also interact with Adderall.—
Ayesha Gulzar,
Verywell Health,
4 Feb. 2025
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My problems began during the winter of 2023, when dingy weather and a depressive fit spurred me to sign up for a half-marathon.—
Amy X. Wang,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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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
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Flanking Jupiter on one side, going outward from Jupiter will be Io, Europa and Callisto and Ganymede, while all by its lonesome on the other side, will be Ganymede.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
5 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cheerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheerless. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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