as in sad
feeling unhappiness
after a disastrous date like that, anyone would be down in the mouth
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of down in the mouth
The movie feels more than a little down in the mouth, even with its string of cliffhangers, some visually impressive, tied together with some ill-fitting comic relief.
—
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 1 July 2025
Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.
—Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 1 July 2025
Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.
—Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for down in the mouth
Adjective
-
This one is trickier and sadder to think about.—
Brian Welk,
IndieWire,
12 Sep. 2025
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Composite image created by Newsweek shows two older people looking worried and a piggy bank with a sad face on its side.—
Aliss Higham,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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My research team works hard to keep the email addresses up to date, but executives keep changing their addresses to avoid having to deal with unhappy customers.—
Christopher Elliott,
Mercury News,
10 Sep. 2025
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But few seemed to leave unhappy.—
Jonathan Hawkins,
CNN Money,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Unemployment has stayed relatively low in part because of dampened demand for workers as well as a depressed supply (people aging out of the workforce as well as reductions in immigrant workers).—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
6 Sep. 2025
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This time producer Brad Ingelsby tapped Mark Ruffalo as a depressed and traumatized FBI agent leading a task force investigating a series of home invasions targeting drug dens in the area.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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And utterly heartbroken for Charlie’s young family.—
Amanda Castro
Gabe Whisnant
Anna Commander
Toby Meyjes
Shane Croucher
John Feng
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Sep. 2025
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The woman noted that canceling the shower has left her heartbroken.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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These behaviors create miserable workplace cultures that lead to a big retention and employee engagement problem.—
Ellen Whitlock Baker,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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But the Broncos will look to confuse him with multiple looks and make the Titans one dimensional to make his life miserable.—
Joe Nguyen,
Denver Post,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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But that’s actually a bad thing for a couple reasons.—
Jeff Fedotin,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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But worse than the poverty was the verbal and physical abuse from his father.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The addition of the Warlock-like floaty jump (sorry, there are just a lot of Destiny things) is very good, as is the base level double jump all characters have.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
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Of course, as manager Mike Shildt sometimes says, no one’s going to feel sorry for the Padres.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Danni-Elle Townsend, who’s made a solid impression in PPA internationals this year, was upset in the first round by 43-yr old qualifier and eventual Bronze medalist from Japan Rika Fujiwara, a former WTA tennis pro who toured for more than 20 years before retiring from Tennis in 2020.—
Todd Boss,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Mourners, many of whom were visibly upset and wearing Walmart uniforms, placed electric candles at the memorial.—
Amanda Rosa,
Miami Herald,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Down in the mouth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/down%20in%20the%20mouth. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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