cheerless

[cheer-lis]

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adjective

without cheer; joyless; gloomy: drab, cheerless surroundings.

Origin of cheerless

First recorded in 1570–80; cheer + -less

Related formscheer·less·ly, adverbcheer·less·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cheerless

austere, black, bleak, blue, dark, dejected, depressed, desolate, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, dolorous, drab, dreary, dull, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, grim, jarring

Examples from the Web for cheerless

Historical Examples of cheerless

And after all, it is a cheerless scene, and cheerless are the wanderers in it.
Beneath an Umbrella (From "Twice Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nor is it, as has been too often supposed, a cheerless life of toil and fatigue, but has many substantial and endearing charms.
Address delivered by Hon. Henry H. Crapo, Governor of Michigan, before the Central Michigan Agricultural Society, at their Sheep-shearing Exhibition held at the Agricultural College Farm, on Thursday, May 24th, 1866
Henry Howland Crapo
It was, indeed, a cheerless encampment for a cold, windy December night.
King Philip
John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
It was a cheerless winter morning when they set out from Shoulthwaite.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine
She had done what she could to make the cheerless house less cheerless.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for cheerless

cheerless

adjective

dreary, gloomy, or pessimistic

Derived Formscheerlessly, adverbcheerlessness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cheerless

adj.

"devoid of comfort," 1570s, from cheer (n.) + -less. Related: Cheerlessly; cheerlessness.