as in unhappy
feeling unhappiness
was utterly joyless after his bitter divorce
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Recent Examples of joyless
Call it hypocrisy or honesty, either way, Season 3 is a joyless exercise that’s nonetheless an improvement on the wayward Season 2.
—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
15 June 2026
With its joyless austerity, the dish bears almost no resemblance to actual chicken paprikás, which is boisterous and dense and, crucially, should involve a considerable portion of hearty starches to sop it all up.
—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
How to find light in a joyless season.
—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
11 June 2026
It was filled with joyless body language, caused by Gauff losing touch with the relaxation routines, like going to her towel and breathing or eating some fruit.
—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
26 May 2026
Like the then French President’s 2002 joyless re-election over the far-right candidate Marie Le Pen, Bass could win handily over Pratt by default.
—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
20 May 2026
Word around baseball is all the losing has turned the Mets clubhouse, which has already been fractured these past couple years, into a joyless brig.
—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
2 May 2026
Of course, in Louisiana, with its cheap, abundant, and locally refined gasoline, many civilians drive these behemoths, too, so at school pickups, organizers asked parents to roll their windows down and blast music, something that joyless agents would never do.
—
Daniel Brook,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
If Panahi’s interview had been a joyless commiseration-fest, that would have been more than acceptable.
—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
15 June 2026
With its joyless austerity, the dish bears almost no resemblance to actual chicken paprikás, which is boisterous and dense and, crucially, should involve a considerable portion of hearty starches to sop it all up.
—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
How to find light in a joyless season.
—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
11 June 2026
It was filled with joyless body language, caused by Gauff losing touch with the relaxation routines, like going to her towel and breathing or eating some fruit.
—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
26 May 2026
Like the then French President’s 2002 joyless re-election over the far-right candidate Marie Le Pen, Bass could win handily over Pratt by default.
—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
20 May 2026
Word around baseball is all the losing has turned the Mets clubhouse, which has already been fractured these past couple years, into a joyless brig.
—
Bill Madden,
New York Daily News,
2 May 2026
Of course, in Louisiana, with its cheap, abundant, and locally refined gasoline, many civilians drive these behemoths, too, so at school pickups, organizers asked parents to roll their windows down and blast music, something that joyless agents would never do.
—
Daniel Brook,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
If Panahi’s interview had been a joyless commiseration-fest, that would have been more than acceptable.
—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joyless
Adjective
-
The decade was an unhappy panorama of inflation, gas shortages, military humiliation, and revelations of political corruption.
-
On Tuesday, Paul urged Americans who are unhappy with the justices’ ruling to support his proposal.
Adjective
-
Day broke, bathing everything in light, and so great was the vitality of the early-morning sun that even the unhappy city seemed to smile a wan, sad smile.
-
But SpringHill really took off in 2020, two seasons into James’ Lakers term, when The SpringHill Company went public (and the Lakers won the sad COVID-bubble NBA Championship).
Adjective
-
New-home construction tumbled, then stayed depressed for over a decade.
-
These figures mark a clear increase from depressed crossing rates seen during much of the Iran war since its start in late February.
Adjective
-
Remarkably, La Roja have failed to win a knockout round match in their last three World Cups, but expect Lamine Yamal and company to end that miserable run today.
-
But the American job market has chugged along, continuing to rebound from a miserable 2025.
Adjective
-
The courtroom was packed with heartbroken supporters wanting justice for Jor'Dynn as each woman stood silent in front of the judge.
-
There is nothing more evocative of a pure Love Island experience than a heartbroken rage split in costume.
Adjective
-
That melancholy was discovered by the Romantics, and, in its coarser variation, was equivalent to despair.
-
The goofy sketch comedies and homemade spoofs that once filled his channel gradually disappeared, replaced by melancholy short films and bleak monologues.
Adjective
-
That if you were deemed, as an enslaved person, if you were deemed troublesome or in some way unwanted, you would literally be sold down the river from the more northern states to the deeper south where you would potentially be treated even worse.
-
Offer Real Value, Not Leftovers Most product bundles fail not because the idea is bad but because the execution misses what consumers actually want.
Adjective
-
Much has been made of this World Cup’s mandatory commercial—sorry, hydration—breaks, which have paused action, even during indoor or rain-soaked matches.
-
Back home that night, dues paid to god, the women slathered their faces with turmeric cream and went to bed, bitter-smelling, sorry for themselves on that night as every night.
Cite this Entry
“Joyless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joyless. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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