as in woebegone
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Recent Examples of mirthless
Historically, autocrats are a mirthless bunch.
—
David Remnick, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2025
Splashes of elegance in gravestone carving appear as the mirthless old Puritans die, people get richer, and London goes royal.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
Why is this one mirthless and artless?
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Susan Faludi Laugh-In On the joyful Kamala Harris and the mirthless Donald Trump
Nathaniel Rich
Silent Spring
Why aren’t the candidates talking about climate change?
—Patricia J. Williams, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2024
David Remnick, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2025
Splashes of elegance in gravestone carving appear as the mirthless old Puritans die, people get richer, and London goes royal.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
Why is this one mirthless and artless?
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
—Roshane Thomas, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
His mirthless laugh might have suggested Kafkaesque persecution, or Hardyesque inexorability of fate.
—Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Susan Faludi Laugh-In On the joyful Kamala Harris and the mirthless Donald Trump
Nathaniel Rich
Silent Spring
Why aren’t the candidates talking about climate change?
—Patricia J. Williams, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mirthless
Adjective
-
In two years Curt Cignetti took a woebegone college team, with nary a five-star player, to an undefeated national championship.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Jan. 2026
-
The Chargers would clinch the sixth-seeded spot with a victory over the Broncos or a loss by the Buffalo Bills to the woebegone New York Jets or a tie with the Broncos and a tie by the Bills or a tie with the Broncos and a loss by the Texans.—
Elliott Teaford,
Oc Register,
29 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
This episode is disappointingly cheerless overall—it’s not frosted, tinsely, glowing, silver with bells and mist, or snowy.—
Jenny Singer,
Glamour,
3 Nov. 2025
-
For three days, things were cheerless for Courtney Williams.—
Mike Cook,
Twin Cities,
28 May 2025
Adjective
-
There will be keggers, hook-ups, late nights and early mornings, all without shading Greg as a sad old man trying to turn back time.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
5 Mar. 2026
-
But none of them can say this, none of them can let their feelings be known, and, instead of a triangle, what ends up happening is three sad lines fallen in on each other, lying in a pile, waiting for someone to come along and prop them back up into a shape.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
4 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Four Spent the Day Together is a flat, at times lugubrious account of losing such conviction.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
-
Both men’s physiognomy can lean similarly to the lugubrious.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
17 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Inside, the ornately elegant venue may have seemed like an unlikely setting for Junior H’s melancholy corridos tumbados.—
Isabela Raygoza,
Billboard,
5 Mar. 2026
-
In my experience, sadness and melancholy exist side by side with happiness and joy.—
Cressida Leyshon,
New Yorker,
1 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The album’s best moments come when Joji deploys the noisy, aggressive production favored by morose rappers like fakemink, Bladee, and Playboi Carti.—
Mehan Jayasuriya,
Pitchfork,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Despite its serious subject matter, the novel is neither morbid nor morose.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Despite his impassive eyes, balding pate, and slit of a smile, Robert Duvall could be volcanic and melancholic, mysterious and straightforward, vengeful and merciful.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Feb. 2026
-
The making of such a film would look a lot like the funny, tenderly melancholic, and wonderful Candidates of Death.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
25 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The actor Marisa Abela plays her in a binary state of panic and swagger by sobbing like a dejected child or slyly grinning like one who’s about to wolf down an ice-cream cake.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Amos Mosaner, the Italian who won bronze in mixed doubles, looked dejected after his team missed a spot in the semifinals.—
Julia Frankel,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mirthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mirthless. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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