humorlessness

noun

as in earnestness

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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 humorlessness One of my major disappointments in a lot of the writing was its humorlessness. — Diya Chacko, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for humorlessness
  1. earnestness
  2. gravitas
  3. seriousness
  4. gravity
  5. earnest
  6. soberness
  7. solemnity
Noun
  • But the earnestness of their performances, the texture of their hesitation, makes the video far more compelling than any of its deepfake counterparts.
    — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Still, there’s something to the earnestness with which the movie does finally have its daddy issues and its cetacean ones intersect.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of earnestness
Noun
  • As Agathe comes to understand the extent of her troubles, Exarchopoulos’ performance achieves a sorrowful gravitas.
    — Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Jan. 2023
  • Henriksen plays his part to the hilt here, bringing a gravitas that few actors would consider bringing to the role of a shoot-'em-up movie villain.
    — Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 11 Jan. 2023
Definition of gravitas
Noun
  • But this particular reality show tries to justify its controversial existence by proclaiming its seriousness with regards to psychology, philosophy, and current events.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
  • There’s a level of seriousness that belies the 90-minute comedy film he’s made, which features an imbecilic white rapper who speaks in Caribbean-British slang and a contraption that shoots bullets out of one’s rear end.
    — Lacey Rose, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of seriousness
Noun
  • No bigger than a microwave oven, Idefix will plop onto Phobos by itself, bouncing for several minutes before coming to a halt in the moon's extraordinarily low gravity.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2026
  • At the time, Rastinejad and her colleagues wondered whether a black hole’s gravity had ripped up a companion neutron star, as if unseen godly hands had pulled it apart like dough.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of gravity
Noun
  • By May 2026, all 11 of xAI’s original cofounders had departed the company, a cascade that began in earnest in February when Tony Wu, described as one of the most operationally central cofounders, announced his resignation.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 24 June 2026
  • Modern viticulture began in earnest here in the 1970s before blossoming in the ’90s.
    — Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 22 June 2026
Definition of earnest
Noun
  • Because of the way the director works, emotions tend to be more discussed than felt, although there’s something about Carla’s desperation that pierces through all the soberness.
    — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 17 Feb. 2026
Definition of soberness
Noun
  • Adding to the solemnity of the occasion was a string quartet that played two slow movements from Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.
    — Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2026
  • What’s also obvious from Mel’s photography is the solemnity of these places and the humanity of those living and working within them.
    — Stephanie Hanes, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of solemnity

Browse Nearby Words

humorless
humorlessness
humorous
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Cite this Entry

“Humorlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/humorlessness. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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