as in woebegone
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Recent Examples of mirthless
Splashes of elegance in gravestone carving appear as the mirthless old Puritans die, people get richer, and London goes royal.
—
Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
Writing, too, is mirthless and effortful.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2025
Why is this one mirthless and artless?
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Susan Faludi Laugh-In On the joyful Kamala Harris and the mirthless Donald Trump
Nathaniel Rich
Silent Spring
Why aren’t the candidates talking about climate change?
—Patricia J. Williams, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2024
Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
Writing, too, is mirthless and effortful.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2025
Why is this one mirthless and artless?
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Susan Faludi Laugh-In On the joyful Kamala Harris and the mirthless Donald Trump
Nathaniel Rich
Silent Spring
Why aren’t the candidates talking about climate change?
—Patricia J. Williams, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mirthless
Adjective
-
Only Hunter Goodman, a catcher who played for Hartford in 2022 and 23, will represent the woebegone franchise in the All-Star Game.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
13 July 2025
-
While examples abound, the state’s woebegone bullet train project, its tortuous efforts to implement information technology and the financial and managerial meltdown of its unemployment insurance program are among the most egregious.—
Dan Walters,
Mercury News,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
For three days, things were cheerless for Courtney Williams.—
Mike Cook,
Twin Cities,
28 May 2025
-
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
Adjective
-
Charlotte Lawrence loves a good, gut-wrenching, sad song.—
Leah Lu,
Rolling Stone,
7 Aug. 2025
-
Even weeks following the sad news, Black Sabbath is still dominating, and several of the group’s albums climb to new peaks decades after they were first released.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The legacy relaunch — originally titled Superman: Legacy when the project was announced in 2023 — represents a stark departure from writer-director Zack Snyder’s comparatively lugubrious, Zod-killing superhero deconstruction Man of Steel (2013).—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
14 July 2025
-
Some movie-goers love that sort of lugubrious, meditative filmmaking, some not so much, but either way — and to paraphrase Carly Simon — nobody does it better.—
Benjamin Svetkey,
HollywoodReporter,
28 June 2025
Adjective
-
Daniels is morose and whiny and Reynolds is hammy and over-the-top, which allows Stone to steal the movie, giving it its only modicum of zest and soul.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
23 July 2025
-
Tim Burton’s two marvelous Batman movies took the character’s morose nature seriously, but not more seriously than his savoir faire: the Burton Batman movies also have gothic elegance on their side.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
Beginning life as a lighter, more kid-friendly spinoff before transforming into something more melancholic and thoughtful than its parent series, Boruto is also broken into two distinct halves.—
Declan Gallagher,
EW.com,
4 Aug. 2025
-
Still, scattershot laughs aside, Happy Gilmore 2’s efforts at silliness are overwhelmed by a sensibility that’s downright melancholic and overshadowed by death, and not just the impending one of the film industry.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
25 July 2025
Adjective
-
But the overriding feeling of the work is melancholy.—
Hugh Morris,
New York Times,
25 July 2025
-
Anna, an American student at Harvard, falls deeply and unaccountably in love with Christoph, who is on exchange from Germany, in this melancholy début novel.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
21 July 2025
Adjective
-
Yet people remain dejected about the economy, according to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment.—
Josh Boak,
Fortune,
11 Dec. 2023
-
Loneliness is on the rise in the American workforce and may be a major reason so many people feel dejected and uninspired at their desks.—
Kells McPhillips,
Fortune Well,
16 Oct. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Mirthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mirthless. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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