mirthless

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English myrtheles, equivalent to mirth +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mûrth'lĭs, mûrth'lĕs, IPA(key): /ˈmɝθləs/, /ˈmɝθlɪs/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

mirthless (comparative more mirthless, superlative most mirthless)

  1. Lacking mirth; devoid of joy; sad.
    Synonyms: bleak, unmirthful; see also Thesaurus:cheerless, Thesaurus:humorless
    • 1958 December 7, James Thurber, The New York Times Magazine:
      The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms: hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal...
    • 2025 January 4, Rachel Cooke, “In life, David Lodge was surprisingly mirthless. Luckily, his wife was a hoot”, in The Observer‎[1], →ISSN:
      In life, David Lodge was surprisingly mirthless. Luckily, his wife was a hoot [title]

Derived terms

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.