charmless
Americanadjective
Explanation
Charmless people and things fail to please or captivate interest. They lack appeal and beauty and seem boring, dull, and plain. Something charmless lacks popular appeal: a joke without a punchline, a plain outfit, a lonely street in a remote town. Someone charmless lacks social and personal appeal: they’re not considered well-mannered, interesting, or, well, charming! But there’s a problem with this unappealing adjective: it’s almost always based on someone’s opinion so it’s personal and biased even. Maybe that plain outfit isn’t charmless after all, maybe it’s just a matter of perspective.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But once Mr. August gets us past his very soft and charmless introduction, his version gains momentum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
One interviewer described her as "so defiantly charmless that there is something oddly engaging about her, even vulnerable".
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2023
If it comes in the form of a charmless dork out of revenge for all the cool kids who aren't impressed by his money, so be it.
From Salon ● May 25, 2023
“Freddy was in his heart a chicken, he was charmless, he was brutal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2023
It’s Grace Smeath, charmless and righteous, in shapeless, ageless clothing, dun in color; she is ringless and without ornament.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
