as in cynics
a person who spoils the pleasure of others
if you don't want to play, at least don't be a spoilsport
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Recent Examples of spoilsports
The spoilsports need to get back to their home state and do the job which their constituents elected them to do.
—
Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Aug. 2025
Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spoilsports
Noun
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However, those cynics didn’t sound as enlightened when the Rockets were up 18 early in the fourth quarter Saturday night.—
William Guillory,
New York Times,
22 Feb. 2026
-
This is not a home for doomers, cynics, or know-it-alls.—
Daphne Koller,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Meadows was working on the Aleutian Lady, one of the vessels filmed for the long-running show, fishing for crabs on the Bering Sea at the time of his death on February 25, although details of the nature of his death are unclear.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
2 Mar. 2026
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Tiny crabs skitter the shoreline.—
Ryan Ballogg
Updated February 26,
Miami Herald,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
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If family needs cause drama, set kind boundaries and explain them to any complainers.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
2 Jan. 2026
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The faculty experience has been that administrations often side with the complainers.—
Louis Menand,
New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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People nod, but execution drags.—
Amy Eliza Wong,
Fortune,
9 Feb. 2026
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Clear tail drags are extremely rare in the fossil record and often disputed, because of how open to interpretation partial marks are – unlike here.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
3 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Her books were their progeny, Stein acknowledged, and without Alice’s mothering—and typing, proofreading, cooking, sewing, shopping, bookkeeping, and warding off bores—they might not have been born.—
Judith Thurman,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
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Anyone who thinks English Heritage sites are run by bores is in for a surprise.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spoilsports.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spoilsports. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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