as in brooding
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Dissimilar Words
1
as in lingering
to move or act slowly
we were in a rush, and the Sunday driver in front of us was just moping along
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pouting
to silently go about in a bad mood
she's been moping all weekend because her boyfriend hasn't called even once
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of moping
Susan Shelley, Oc Register, 1 Feb. 2026
Koko storms off and spends the rest of the evening moping about the interaction.
—Jihan Forbes, Allure, 29 Oct. 2025
In June the McCoys went back to Bloomington and Catherine spent the summer moping.
—Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Marysol and Alexia take Julia, Lisa, and an unusually dour Adriana, who is moping about her birthday and how society discards women of a certain age.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
One week, a colleague noticed Packard moping around the office and asked what was wrong.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
Rather than moping about, get your shop on with one or all of these many holiday sales.
—Averi Baudler, People.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Verb
In other words, if Hollywood had an awards show for public corruption trials, this case would be at home watching it and moping that it didn’t get nominated.
—Susan Shelley, Oc Register, 1 Feb. 2026
Koko storms off and spends the rest of the evening moping about the interaction.
—Jihan Forbes, Allure, 29 Oct. 2025
In June the McCoys went back to Bloomington and Catherine spent the summer moping.
—Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Marysol and Alexia take Julia, Lisa, and an unusually dour Adriana, who is moping about her birthday and how society discards women of a certain age.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
One week, a colleague noticed Packard moping around the office and asked what was wrong.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
Rather than moping about, get your shop on with one or all of these many holiday sales.
—Averi Baudler, People.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for moping
Adjective
-
This isn't the one-note brooding, mysterious kind of troubled hero we're used to seeing.—
Kathleen Newman-Bremang,
Refinery29,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Feldman had been asked whether his corpus of work, with its brooding slowness and trembling softness, had something to do with Jewish mourning in the wake of the Holocaust.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Weir was right, but those tours — whether billed as the Other Ones or the Dead — were a blend of old camaraderie and lingering friction between the members.—
David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Forecasters say this pattern reflects lingering La Niña influences in the Pacific and the gradual transition toward spring.—
Brandi D. Addison,
USA Today,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Wasn’t blaming the losses on the players, wasn’t pouting about it.—
Pete Sampson,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
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My introduction to Peters came late last year, when Instagram’s algorithm served me a video of him wearing a baseball cap, primping and pouting for the camera.—
Thomas Chatterton Williams,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Lack of sleep can lead to a range of problems, including feeling more irritable.—
Michelle Mastro,
The Spruce,
7 Feb. 2026
-
On the contrary, Juventus’ football soothed even the most irritable sections of the crowd.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Negotiators are showing few signs of backing down from their demands, and there’s little holding back talks from dragging on for the foreseeable future.—
Al Weaver,
The Hill,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Eliza was eventually turned over to a bounty hunter, who, along with her original enslaver, went to Chicago and captured her, apparently dragging her down Adams Street, Krupa said.—
Molly Morrow,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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With that goal in mind, Dijkstra has constructed a scheme to ensure that King Radovid stops drinking and sulking over Jaskier and embraces his role as one of the few remaining leaders who can oppose Emhyr’s army.—
Scott Meslow,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
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Jets Mike McDaniel’s slow, sulking walk off the field was just sad, which about sums up the Dolphins this season.—
Chad Graff,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But Trump is everything a president should never be: petty, petulant, vindictive, vulgar, indifferent to unwelcome facts, addicted to lying, ignorant of history and pathologically egotistic.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Jan. 2026
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This petulant man, who wields awesome power, also has the nuclear codes.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Earlier this season, Garland had surgery on his left big toe and then sprained the right big toe, which continues to give him problems, delaying his Clippers’ debut.—
Janis Carr,
Oc Register,
19 Feb. 2026
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Some of those detainees could be charged in the weeks to come in Minneapolis, where a number of prosecutors have quit – delaying cases and slowing the court system.—
Isabelle Chapman,
CNN Money,
19 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Moping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/moping. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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