dispiriting 1 of 2

present participle of dispirit

dispiriting

2 of 2

adjective

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dispiriting
Verb
Some folks harbor a dispiriting conviction that governments are unable to handle the simplest task. Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 22 Aug. 2025 Let’s establish all of that up front after the Carolina Panthers’ dispiriting, 20-3 exhibition loss at Houston Saturday. Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 17 Aug. 2025 Whether driven by social apathy or artistic passion, James—effortlessly played by O’Connor with hangdog elegance—registers as a compelling update of the ’70s American male loner archetype for another dispiriting, directionless time. Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
The endgame here of every state except maybe a few purple ones having representatives from only one party is really dispiriting — this clearly is not what the Congressional system was set up to be. Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025 Similar condos are now being built from the Upper West Side (handsome) to Greenpoint (dispiriting). Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 11 Aug. 2025 In this excerpt, adapted from Seller’s memoir, Theater Kid (out on May 6 from Simon & Schuster), the producer lays out the musical’s long road from dispiriting workshop to its simultaneously triumphant and tragic first preview performance. Jeffrey Seller, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025 One particularly dispiriting departure is that of Peter Marks, the longtime leader of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 2 Apr. 2025 One of the very depressing and dispiriting aspects of this is that Congress is not standing up for its prerogatives. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2025 The outcome ended what had been a dispiriting history for Maryland (25-7). Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 15 Mar. 2025 If blowout losses and dispiriting performances characterized the 2023-24 Sharks season, the team’s 2024-25 season has been pockmarked by heartbreak, with an almost uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2025 The lengthy injury report is really dispiriting, with Dallas also down Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and midseason acquisition Caleb Martin. Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dispiriting
Verb
  • As far as Young goes, the Week 1 performance was discouraging.
    Mike Kaye September 10, Charlotte Observer, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Speaker Johnson is giving the high ground to the Democrats by discouraging Thomas Massie's petition.
    Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Seeing that textbook go to waste felt very disheartening.
    Sami Khan, Mercury News, 9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • But the drum sound wasn’t nearly as dismaying as the studio’s piano, which kept slipping out of tune.
    Peter Ames Carlin, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
  • With a six-game deficit in the American League wild card hunt entering play on Monday, the Angels may be only a few series away from repeating their dismaying playbook from 2023.
    Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • To have all that flipped on its side, turned around 180 degrees and made to seem dark and sinister, that's very demoralizing and heartbreaking.
    Michal Ruprecht, NPR, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Watching what’s unfolding around us can be demoralizing.
    Stacey Abrams, Time, 28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • For some—for me—the experience of certain kinds of anxiety has a disconcerting synesthetic quality.
    Scott Stossel, The Atlantic, 9 Sep. 2025
  • The disconcerting answer is that nobody knows.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • States would still govern access, DEA oversight would remain, and businesses would face the daunting task of complying with FDA standards and pharmaceutical-level GMP requirements.
    Robert Hoban, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
  • The psychological journey Mutabazi has taken is, in some ways, more daunting than the physical distances he’s traveled.
    John Blake, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Either way, a wrist injury would help explain the rather troubling start for Thomas, who was profiled to be one of the best wide receivers in all of football coming into the 2025 season.
    Reice Shipley, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
  • Regardless of which direction the program goes at Head Coach, or if Iamaleava will stay for his junior season, the fact that UCLA is already looking towards next year in Week 3 is troubling enough.
    Tyler Small, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Ponder the grocery categories tracked by local CPIs to see which California supermarket aisles are most troublesome to your household’s food budget.
    Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 13 Sep. 2025
  • For Wild fans, one more potentially troublesome factor iis the history of moves like that one.
    Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 13 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dispiriting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dispiriting. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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