joyless

[ joi-lis ]

/ ˈdʒɔɪ lɪs /

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adjective

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

causing no joy or pleasure.

Nearby words

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

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.

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ANTONYMS FOR joyless

1 joyous.

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Related forms

joy·less·ly, adverbjoy·less·ness, noun

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

Examples 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

joylessly, adverbjoylessness, 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