as in solemn
not joking or playful in mood or manner
humorless people who can't see the lighter side of life
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of humorless
For Max in particular, his parent’s lifelong humorless severity looks more and more like malevolent delusion under a cloak of puritanical righteousness.
—
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 11 July 2025
One client found a way to use humor with a stereotypically humorless customer base: accountants.
—Ellie Victor, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
And Zero at first comes off as a humorless Gen Z caricature.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2025
The undercover cop on the subway platform was in his early thirties, McCullough guessed, and evidently humorless, or, more likely, fulfilling a quota.
—Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 2 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for humorless
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 11 July 2025
One client found a way to use humor with a stereotypically humorless customer base: accountants.
—Ellie Victor, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
And Zero at first comes off as a humorless Gen Z caricature.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2025
The undercover cop on the subway platform was in his early thirties, McCullough guessed, and evidently humorless, or, more likely, fulfilling a quota.
—Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 2 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for humorless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for humorless
Adjective
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On Monday, her husband, the Duke of Kent, and daughter Lady Helen Taylor appeared solemn as her coffin was taken by hearse from Kensington Palace to Westminster Cathedral for a private vigil.—
Jack Royston,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
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No happening is too solemn, in this world, for a heaping portion of unabashed self-promotion.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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And at what point will the FO/Doc accept that—even with Conforto’s lucky strike last night—no serious team can use a Conforto-Pages-Teo outfield—in the field and at the plate—and hope to contend in the way this team should?—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
13 Sep. 2025
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While the classic grounds for denaturalization include concealment of criminal histories or material lies in the naturalization process, there are growing indications that serious tax fraud may be viewed as evidence that naturalization was procured illegally or fraudulently.—
Kelly Phillips Erb,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In fact, Baltimore has received a stern warning on closing out big games from former All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
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Shatter and Falconi had formed Flipper in the late 1970s Bay Area at the dawn of hardcore, the tougher and sterner punk variant that had a stronghold in California.—
Jazz Monroe,
Pitchfork,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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To say that Servillo acts with a poker face would be to vastly understate the unsmiling minimalism of his performance.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
27 Aug. 2025
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The portrait's lack of background and Trump's unsmiling gaze further differentiates it from those of his predecessors.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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The company’s events tend to skew earnest for fashion, and this one was no exception, beginning with an address by Yanai—translated live from Japanese, via headsets—featuring various charts and graphs.—
Lauren Collins,
New Yorker,
15 Sep. 2025
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His interest in deescalation seemed earnest and pleading.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Humorless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/humorless. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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