as in unhappy
feeling unhappiness
was utterly joyless after his bitter divorce
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Recent Examples of joyless
This hopelessly dreary production is intent on capturing only the compulsive, joyless comedown of its main character’s kamikaze choice to blow his life up.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
The idea propagated by Saturday Night Live skits and sitcom one-liners that Lilith Fair was a misandrist showcase for joyless, hormonal angst was totally alien to accounts of what being there actually felt like.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2025
This joyless, crass Platinum Dunes remake (directed by Marcus Nispel) regurgitates the original’s plot with additional gore but without any of the sharp wit.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Sep. 2025
And somewhere between charting, coding and clicking through drop-down menus, the doctor wonders — when did this job become so joyless?
—Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Instead, Couture plays almost like a joyless mood-piece response to Robert Altman’s Fashion Week satire, Prêt-à-Porter, which interwove a more expansive gallery of characters into the frantic haute couture circus.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
The idea propagated by Saturday Night Live skits and sitcom one-liners that Lilith Fair was a misandrist showcase for joyless, hormonal angst was totally alien to accounts of what being there actually felt like.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2025
This joyless, crass Platinum Dunes remake (directed by Marcus Nispel) regurgitates the original’s plot with additional gore but without any of the sharp wit.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Sep. 2025
And somewhere between charting, coding and clicking through drop-down menus, the doctor wonders — when did this job become so joyless?
—Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Instead, Couture plays almost like a joyless mood-piece response to Robert Altman’s Fashion Week satire, Prêt-à-Porter, which interwove a more expansive gallery of characters into the frantic haute couture circus.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joyless
Adjective
-
Pauline Collins, the exuberant British actress who inspired women — and men, too — to do something to change their unhappy lives with her Oscar-nominated and Olivier- and Tony-winning performances in Shirley Valentine, has died.—
Lisa de los Reyes,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
-
That distaste didn’t hurt Spanberger and her ticket, because 18% of those unhappy voters backed her anyway.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Everyone's a little sad in The Holdovers, Alexander Payne's charmingly sour comedy about a student stuck at his New England boarding school over the holidays with only his grouchy professor (Paul Giamatti) and the school cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) for company.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Nov. 2025
-
The 25-year-old wide receiver is sad to see his teammates go, but trusts the vision of the New York front office.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
During the week, Aluko had described lying in bed at the height of the controversy, depressed and unable to eat.—
Greg O'Keeffe,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Perhaps this depressed valuation is what caught the eye of Carl Icahn.—
Kenneth Squire,
CNBC,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
That was pointed out during Chipotle’s earnings report, which showed miserable results at the end of October.—
Jordan Valinsky,
CNN Money,
11 Nov. 2025
-
Caesar and Coca were soon joined on the show by the diminutive Howard Morris, whom Caesar could hoist from the ground and glare at face to face, and by Carl Reiner, tall like Caesar but as happy as Sid was miserable—the ideal second banana.—
David Denby,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
As the title suggests, the book details Turner's tale of a heartbroken widower who became an unlikely senior-citizen TV star on the first season of the reality show, which ended with an engagement to Nist.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Thomas told the outlet that her brother’s diagnosis left their family heartbroken.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Johnson, Evans and Pascal – and while certainly thoughtful, the film's strengths are upended by a mood-murdering melancholy.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The day of the hearing, Vande Kolk climbed into his truck and headed home, feeling melancholy.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Iran is facing its worst drought in decades, raising fears of evacuations in Tehran while threatening the regime’s stability and nuclear ambitions, according to a leading environmental expert.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
10 Nov. 2025
-
Keeping bad things out of my body.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
River, tree, sorry, adder, stink, future, plughole.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
The city is home to endless freeways, not-great public transportation, dry air and hard water, clout-chasing name-droppers, oppressive wellness culture, and $20 status smoothies (which are delicious, sorry to say).—
Rachel Brodsky,
Rolling Stone,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Joyless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joyless. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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