as in unhappy
feeling unhappiness
was utterly joyless after his bitter divorce
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Recent Examples of joyless
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
Leadership sets the tone, and right now that tone feels tense and joyless.
—Los Angeles Times, 21 Feb. 2026
Pills even out her emotions but her brain is joyless.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 11 Jan. 2026
By comparison—and in contrast to its buoyant first season—Stranger Things has devolved into a joyless, uninspired, unidirectional slog.
—Judy Berman, Time, 26 Dec. 2025
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
Leadership sets the tone, and right now that tone feels tense and joyless.
—Los Angeles Times, 21 Feb. 2026
Pills even out her emotions but her brain is joyless.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 11 Jan. 2026
By comparison—and in contrast to its buoyant first season—Stranger Things has devolved into a joyless, uninspired, unidirectional slog.
—Judy Berman, Time, 26 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joyless
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
-
The sad thing is that the miseries return, but there is no other Garrincha available.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
-
Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Cesar's family and friends during this very sad time.—
Jesse Zanger,
CBS News,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
Margaret Prior is almost thirty, unmarried, depressed, and living with her overbearing mother.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
26 May 2026
-
Morris is lonely and depressed.—
Jeanne Phillips,
Mercury News,
25 May 2026
Adjective
-
The $50 million playland opened in miserable Memorial Day weekend weather, but 12,000 visitors still showed up.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
29 May 2026
-
Let’s survey the wreckage of another miserable day at the ballpark.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
27 May 2026
Adjective
-
Barragán’s mother was heartbroken to learn that Brian’s address placed him in Lagos.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harpers Magazine,
26 May 2026
-
One of the heartbroken is his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon, the grandson of Childress, a 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.—
Chase Jordan
May 22,
Charlotte Observer,
22 May 2026
Adjective
-
Early Years Eichenberg recounted his childhood with some melancholy.—
Jessica George,
JSTOR Daily,
27 May 2026
-
But most memorably, the Bellucci plays a lonely, melancholy artist living on the farm whose role holds the key to the movie’s (however narrow) emotional strengths.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
22 May 2026
Adjective
-
But that’s made even worse by the fact that a significant portion of these observational studies did not even have a comparison group.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
1 June 2026
-
The views over the city aren’t bad either.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
Among them a City boy wearing three Fit-Bit-type devices, two beautiful Middle Eastern sisters, an outrageously pompous elderly American (sorry; eavesdropping), and several Imelda Marcos lookalikes, tottering out of the treatment rooms with, somehow, their elaborate hairstyles still intact.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
-
That’s what health experts now advise, because statistics reveal the sorry fact that 95% of people are deficient in this essential dietary food.—
Margaux Anbouba,
Vogue,
29 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Joyless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joyless. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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