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joyless

[ joi-lis ]

/ ˈdʒɔɪ lɪs /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR joyless ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

without joy or gladness; unhappy: the joyless days of the war.

causing no joy or pleasure.

Origin of joyless

First recorded in 1300–50, joyless is from the Middle English word joyles. See joy, -less

SYNONYMS FOR joyless

1 sad, cheerless, gloomy, dismal, miserable.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR joyless ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR joyless

1 joyous.

SEE ANTONYMS FOR joyless ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM joyless

joy·less·ly, adverb joy·less·ness, noun

Words nearby joyless

joyance, joyce, joyce, james, joycean, joyful, joyless, joyner, joyner-kersee, joyous, joypad, joypop

Example sentences from the Web for joyless

I mean, what kind of joyless world are we leaving for our children?

Why Your Kids Must Watch ‘South Park’ |Nick Gillespie |September 24, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
If married life is as boring and joyless as this document, I am glad I am celibate.

Did the Pope Just Wink at Gay Marriage? |Barbie Latza Nadeau |June 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The quintessentially American lesson he learns is never to be joyless.

A History of American Fun |Stefan Beck |February 9, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The traffic was as light as if it were some joyless holiday.

Hurricane Sandy Victim Jacob Vogelman’s Mother Remembers His Life |Michael Daly |November 1, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

The man was like a dark cloud—rather like having a joyless loan officer run the country.

What Cameron Is Up Against |Tunku Varadarajan |May 12, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
It must not be supposed that young Willard's home was gloomy and joyless, because it was presided over by a religious woman.

Sword and Pen |John Algernon Owens
Poggibonsi was revealed to her as they sang—a joyless, straggling place, full of people who pretended.

Where Angels Fear to Tread |E. M. Forster
Is Baddenskey, who sits wearily at his loom down there in joyless Spitalfields, a descendant?

A July Holiday in Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia |Walter White
Perhaps envy, more than virtue, will put me upon setting up beacons for them, when I grow old and joyless.

Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9) |Samuel Richardson
In the palpable and griping winter, death itself seemed to wind around him its skeleton and joyless arms.

Ernest Maltravers, Complete |Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for joyless

joyless

/ (ˈdʒɔɪlɪs) /

adjective

having or producing no joy or pleasure

Derived forms of joyless

joylessly, adverb joylessness, noun