1
as in bleak
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
spent her last years in the disconsolate environs of a cheap boarding house
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2
as in unhappy
feeling unhappiness
she was utterly disconsolate when her best friend moved away
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Recent Examples of disconsolate
As the Champions League anthem echoed around Villa Park, Liverpool’s disconsolate players headed for the tunnel.
—
James Pearce, New York Times, 16 May 2026
However, the short-term pain was acute, and Wrexham’s players sat on the ground and looked disconsolate after the final whistle — even though the Hull-Norwich match hadn’t finished.
—Steve Douglas, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2026
Last week, a moving van transported Andrew’s possessions from his home in Windsor’s Royal Lodge to a farm on the King’s Sandringham estate, after he was photographed, disconsolate, riding a horse.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2026
Amby is disconsolate on the drive home.
—Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
After noticing disconsolate tourists wandering the perimeter, Taskinen proposed installing a café on the ground floor and restoring the building’s four spacious apartments into modest but comfortable rooms filled with Artek furniture.
—Michael Snyder, Travel + Leisure, 14 Apr. 2025
My father, disconsolate, would pace around what had once been their home in an exaggerated performance of his own uselessness.
—Hazlitt, 2 Apr. 2025
Outside, a disconsolate Santa presses his forehead against the building next door.
—Liam Sherwin-Murray, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
James Pearce, New York Times, 16 May 2026
However, the short-term pain was acute, and Wrexham’s players sat on the ground and looked disconsolate after the final whistle — even though the Hull-Norwich match hadn’t finished.
—Steve Douglas, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2026
Last week, a moving van transported Andrew’s possessions from his home in Windsor’s Royal Lodge to a farm on the King’s Sandringham estate, after he was photographed, disconsolate, riding a horse.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2026
Amby is disconsolate on the drive home.
—Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
After noticing disconsolate tourists wandering the perimeter, Taskinen proposed installing a café on the ground floor and restoring the building’s four spacious apartments into modest but comfortable rooms filled with Artek furniture.
—Michael Snyder, Travel + Leisure, 14 Apr. 2025
My father, disconsolate, would pace around what had once been their home in an exaggerated performance of his own uselessness.
—Hazlitt, 2 Apr. 2025
Outside, a disconsolate Santa presses his forehead against the building next door.
—Liam Sherwin-Murray, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disconsolate
Adjective
-
For years, radical climate activists have painted a bleak view of the future.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
29 May 2026
-
The bleak, desolate masterpiece from 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine was used to great effect in 1995’s Natural Born Killers, the first film soundtrack produced by Reznor.—
Al Shipley,
SPIN,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
What’s leaving one unhappy child at home compared to sending five hundred people home from the theatre happy?—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
-
Shohei Ohtani almost became the most unhappy pitcher to ever be part of throwing a no-hitter.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
Its trio, a lonely fox-deer, an axolotl apprentice healer and a red panda Viking, travel through a darkening natural world as the series folds identity, belonging and environmental crisis.—
Callum McLennan,
Variety,
1 June 2026
-
Brunson is hardly a lonely talent.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
30 May 2026
Adjective
-
The other six ascended to the highest office in the land as a result of the dysfunction that has made Peru a punch line in political-science circles, a sad story of ungovernability played on a loop.—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
-
There’s a one-note quality to the film’s comedy that grows steadily, even deliberately, more abrasive over two hours, but the sad, brash, gradually shrinking bigness of the personalities at its center holds your attention.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
4 June 2026
Adjective
-
Almost a year out to sea is very depressing.—
Steve Walsh,
NPR,
23 May 2026
-
Some sendoffs are mundane; others are downright depressing.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
Adjective
-
One reason Red Sea traffic remains depressed is because ships can bypass it and avoid the security risk altogether by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.—
Spencer Kimball,
CNBC,
30 May 2026
-
As anxiety has mounted about depressed entry-level hiring, with Gen Z crowds even booing luminaries such as Eric Schmidt amid commencement speeches touting AI, Dimon has given warm but blunt advice to ambitious young workers.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
There’s a somber scene in a new documentary about Patrick Kelly, where executive producers Jess Manning and Ray Cornelius are at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center, about to dive into research about the late fashion designer.—
Bianca Betancourt,
CNN Money,
2 June 2026
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But after seven episodes wearing down the viewer with a bleak perspective, in the season finale, Euphoria pulls itself out of its own somber patterns to reach for grace and mercy in Christian symbolism, American wholesomeness, and the concept of family.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
Ali later finds her, a moment that leaves him completely heartbroken, before testing the drugs and confirming they were laced with fentanyl.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
1 June 2026
-
Horace leaves Hollywood and a heartbroken but determined Aaron behind.—
Meredith Maran,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Disconsolate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disconsolate. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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