moping 1 of 2

adjective

as in brooding

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moping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of mope
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of moping
Verb
Duke, whose time in the pub is spent either moping or getting hyped up by his aunt Kaulo doing her best Lady Macbeth. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026 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 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
  1. brooding
  2. lingering
  3. pouting
  4. irritable
  5. dragging
  6. sulking
  7. petulant
  8. delaying
Adjective
  • Though Hunt and Pacquin rightly won all the plaudits, Neill memorably played the brooding and jealous Alisdair.
    — Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 13 July 2026
  • Drawn from the same writing sessions that produced Love Is Not Enough, released in February, Hum of Hurt is the darker and more brooding sibling.
    — Alex Robert Ross, Pitchfork, 24 June 2026
Definition of brooding
Verb
  • The floods drew attention to still unhealed wounds — and lingering regrets.
    — Alaa Elassar, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
  • Despite the lingering outages, the disruptions remained concentrated rather than widespread.
    — Christopher Scarglato, Baltimore Sun, 19 July 2026
Definition of lingering
Verb
  • Some people will probably be pouting in those debriefs.
    — Jeff Gluck, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2026
  • 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
Definition of pouting
Adjective
  • Perelman said people who have weakened immune systems and those with irritable bowel disease may want to talk to their doctors before incorporating the foods into their diet.
    — Devi Shastri, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
  • The symptoms are so delayed that people often blame them on food poisoning, irritable-bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Definition of irritable
Verb
  • The untethered AUVs hover above the seabed instead of dragging equipment across it, reducing sediment disturbance and limiting ecosystem disruption.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 15 July 2026
  • Centre-back Chadi Riad flicks the outswinging corner across goal, with his team-mates’ runs dragging Haiti’s defence forward.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 14 July 2026
Definition of dragging
Verb
  • But nothing good came from sulking.
    — Spencer Nusbaum, New York Times, 19 May 2026
  • 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
Definition of sulking
Adjective
  • Not to mention battling nerds, LARPers, and a particularly petulant McPoyle clan at the Renaissance Faire or sportswashing their way back into the good graces of their community by sponsoring a Little League team.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 15 July 2026
  • Their Ballon d’Or-winning winger Ousmane Dembele had the ball in his hands, a decoy to avoid unwanted attention on the actual taker Mbappe, and Dembele quite literally laughed in the face of the petulant Velazquez.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of petulant
Verb
  • Crabtree said in his order that the court shared the government’s concerns about delaying the proceedings.
    — Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 17 July 2026
  • Still, Goldman acknowledged that delaying an IVF procedure isn’t exactly an easy thing to do.
    — Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 17 July 2026
Definition of delaying

Browse Nearby Words

mopey
moping
mopped
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Cite this Entry

“Moping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/moping. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on moping

Nglish: Translation of moping for Spanish Speakers

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