as in cynic
a person who spoils the pleasure of others
accused the mayor of being a grinch after he cancelled the city's annual holiday parade for budgetary reasons
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Recent Examples of grinch
Tired of looking like the grinch (can't help the hair).
—
David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Feb. 2025
The Pompano Beach, Fla. doesn’t play grinch alone; Veeze, Lil Yachty, Rob49, Juvenile, and B.G. also appear on the project.
—Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 27 Dec. 2024
Buy Now 08 of 26 'How My Neighbor Stole Christmas' by Meghan Quinn
A neighborhood grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas courtesy of his sunshiny neighbor in How My Neighbor Stole Christmas.
—Sabienna Bowman, People.com, 14 Dec. 2024
But seriously, the Freedom Caucus and anti-establishment wing that ousted McCarthy over cutting that initial spending deal stands ready to be the grinch in this scenario.
—Leah Askarinam, ABC News, 21 Nov. 2023
American President Donald Trump doesn’t want to be the grinch that stole Christmas.
—Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Feb. 2025
The Pompano Beach, Fla. doesn’t play grinch alone; Veeze, Lil Yachty, Rob49, Juvenile, and B.G. also appear on the project.
—Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 27 Dec. 2024
Buy Now 08 of 26 'How My Neighbor Stole Christmas' by Meghan Quinn
A neighborhood grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas courtesy of his sunshiny neighbor in How My Neighbor Stole Christmas.
—Sabienna Bowman, People.com, 14 Dec. 2024
But seriously, the Freedom Caucus and anti-establishment wing that ousted McCarthy over cutting that initial spending deal stands ready to be the grinch in this scenario.
—Leah Askarinam, ABC News, 21 Nov. 2023
American President Donald Trump doesn’t want to be the grinch that stole Christmas.
—Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grinch
Noun
-
Put the kibosh on quiet cracking, those cynics insist.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
18 Aug. 2025
-
Travis Kelce knows what the cynics might think of his relationship with Taylor Swift — two of the most famous people in America just happen to match up perfectly?—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The proportions are low and wide, with some details that signal its sportiness and others that suggest a focus on reducing drag and maximizing efficiency.—
Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
4 Sep. 2025
-
One image on Shea’s Instagram alludes to Kenzie being part of her drag family as early as 2017.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them.,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The Civil War, which is jeopardizing his presidency, has turned him into an utter killjoy.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2025
-
Without being a complete spoiler-lobbing killjoy, this is a story heavily marinated in trauma, with an emphasis on two parties’ checkered past in particular.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Who’s going to climb over all the other crabs and inevitably kill them in order to survive?—
Katie Kilkenny,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The lobster and crab on a baguette at Linden in Los Angeles is a knuckle sandwich that’s also a knuckle sandwich.—
Andy Wang,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Inevitably, violence erupts, both spontaneously, when a drug deal goes sour, and by design, when a spoilsport has to be eliminated.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
21 Aug. 2025
-
The spoilsports need to get back to their home state and do the job which their constituents elected them to do.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The president has similarly hinted at soon reverting the Department of Defense to the Department of War, the name the Cabinet’s military department bore from 1789 until 1947.—
Christian Datoc,
The Washington Examiner,
4 Sep. 2025
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The researchers plan to expand their study to a larger number of boreholes, including water bores, to understand the full scope of the issue better nd find more opportunities to reduce emissions.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
But in their quest to make history, the guests turned into party poopers.—
The San Diego Union Tribune,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
1 Sep. 2025
-
In the co-main event, Zhang Mingyang proved to be the ultimate party pooper.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
27 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Aleksander Barkov has covered him like a wet blanket at times, showcasing the two-way prowess that just earned him his third Selke Trophy.—
Daniel Nugent-Bowman,
New York Times,
16 June 2025
-
It’s stated routinely in my upcoming book The Deficit Delusion that the centralized and politicized allocation of goods, services and labor in sub-optimal fashion by politicians lays a wet blanket on economic growth.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
7 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Grinch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grinch. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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