as in unhappy
feeling unhappiness
was utterly joyless after his bitter divorce
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Recent Examples of joyless
The more renowned the art, the greater the number of clueless lookers, joyless collectors, donors in search of tax breaks, and steroidal museums.
—
Jackson Arn, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
By comparison—and in contrast to its buoyant first season—Stranger Things has devolved into a joyless, uninspired, unidirectional slog.
—Judy Berman, Time, 26 Dec. 2025
The joyless union is being pushed by Lord and Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston) so that the wealth stays in the family.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
This hopelessly dreary production is intent on capturing only the compulsive, joyless comedown of its main character’s kamikaze choice to blow his life up.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
The idea propagated by Saturday Night Live skits and sitcom one-liners that Lilith Fair was a misandrist showcase for joyless, hormonal angst was totally alien to accounts of what being there actually felt like.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2025
This joyless, crass Platinum Dunes remake (directed by Marcus Nispel) regurgitates the original’s plot with additional gore but without any of the sharp wit.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Sep. 2025
And somewhere between charting, coding and clicking through drop-down menus, the doctor wonders — when did this job become so joyless?
—Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Instead, Couture plays almost like a joyless mood-piece response to Robert Altman’s Fashion Week satire, Prêt-à-Porter, which interwove a more expansive gallery of characters into the frantic haute couture circus.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joyless
Adjective
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This is a no-win situation because one of us will end up unhappy.—
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The automaker spent much of the year undoing decisions made by the previous CEO, Carlos Tavares, who resigned at the end of 2024, as stakeholders in the company — from dealers to union rank and file — were upset with him and unhappy with his leadership.—
Adjective
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In Democratic cities, people demand 38 meetings and three dozen environmental assessments before tearing down a crack den to build a nursery for sad orphans.—
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Although there are infinitely many happy numbers there are also infinitely many sad ones.—
Adjective
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Countries such as the Netherlands and Canada that passed similar bills have gone on to expand this type of legislation to allow doctors to give lethal medication to the depressed and other people with mental illnesses.—
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Yes, our political leaders have given some of us reason to be resentful, cynical and even depressed.—
Adjective
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On a tour full of reasons to be miserable, England will leave Australia with at least one ray of light for the future.—
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The series centers around Timmy Turner, a miserable 10-year-old whose life improves significantly after he is given two fairy godparents named Wanda and Cosmo.—
Adjective
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After Anna disappeared, Alice was heartbroken.—
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A day after the shooting, Chez’s heartbroken parents proclaimed at a press conference outside the 101st Precinct stationhouse in Far Rockaway that their son posed no threat.—
Adjective
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Cookie cravings, a tinge of melancholy, and the urge to hibernate and fix your life all at once.—
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There is a note of melancholy associated with the former house, as the dormitory long bore the name of a student, Emily Cluett, who had caught the flu more than a century ago and died.—
Adjective
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Iran is facing its worst drought in decades, raising fears of evacuations in Tehran while threatening the regime’s stability and nuclear ambitions, according to a leading environmental expert.—
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Keeping bad things out of my body.—
Adjective
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Wait, sorry, who is Ashley French?—
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Their new offering will cover stories on the mental side of sports, such as how to drink coffee like Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, and tips from a gold medalist on how to say sorry less.—
Cite this Entry
“Joyless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joyless. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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