joyless
/ˈdʒɔɪləs
/adjective
Not giving or feeling any pleasure or satisfaction; grim or dismal: she had to face the thought of a joyless future...
- It's a bit like scratching an unbearable itch: a completely satisfying activity, but joyless at the same time.
- All the characters lead dismal, joyless lives.
- This grim, joyless motion picture is anything but fun.
Synonyms
gloomy, melancholy, morose, lugubrious, glum, sombre, saturnine, sullen, dour, mirthless, humourless;
unhappy, sad, miserable, depressed, despondent, sunk in gloom, heavy-hearted, doleful, downcast, dejected, dispirited
depressing, cheerless, gloomy, dreary, bleak, dispiriting, drab, dismal, desolate, wretched, comfortless, austere, stark, sombre, grim;
unwelcoming, uninviting, inhospitable
literary drear
Derivatives
joylessly
- The image of Atta joylessly spooning cold mashed potato into his mouth, taken with everything else we know, strongly suggested a man for whom this world mattered little.
- Given these constraints, as oppressive as the white tie and collar studs the men joylessly wear, the actors give focused, intelligent performances.
- Ady's poems became required reading joylessly recited by generations of Hungarian schoolchildren in bombastic voices of patriotism.