mope
Americanverb (used without object)
-
mopes,
present (3rd person singular)
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moped,
past participle, past
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moping
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
mopes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
moped,
past participle, past
-
moping
present participle
noun
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a person who mopes or is given to moping.
-
mopes, depressed spirits; blues.
verb
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to be gloomy or apathetic
there's no time to mope
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to move or act in an aimless way
he moped around the flat
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mopesimple
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mopessimple
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have mopedperfect
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has mopedperfect
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am mopingprogressive
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are mopingprogressive
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is mopingprogressive
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have been mopingperfect progressive
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has been mopingperfect progressive
Past
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mopedsimple
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had mopedperfect
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was mopingprogressive
-
were mopingprogressive
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had been mopingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mope
First recorded in 1560–70; variant of mop 2
Explanation
When you're bummed out, I bet you sometimes mope. Moping is something people do when they're feeling gloomy and doomy and sad. Moping never solved a problem, but we all do it when things aren't going our way. A moping person is usually frowning, slouched over, quiet, and maybe even lying down. We mope when we're sad, but part of moping is directed at other people, because moping is at least a little public. When someone says you're "moping around," they can tell you're trying to let everyone know how sad you are. To mope is to say "Hey! Somebody cheer me up!"
Vocabulary lists containing mope
"The Mixer," Vocabulary from the short story
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"The Open Window"
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"The Jacket"
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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.
See Examples For:
It was frustrating to watch Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda mope around the first two seasons, trying to find their place in a world that changed too fast for them to keep up.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2025
Women who weep are seen as "too emotional" while men who mope can be shamed for being soft and vulnerable, she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Fortunately, Sennott is entertaining even as a mope.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2024
He can mope and rant, but caught at the right moment, he’s an out-and-out charmer, a patient listener, a good storyteller.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022
Finally, she says, “We have to do something else. We can't just mope around all night. Wanna play a game?”
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
“Maddie doesn’t listen to me,” she complains, then mopes.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 16, 2021
It seems cruel to send her off to live her final years with my in-laws because she gets sad and mopes when we’re not around.
From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2020
Foy’s favorite episode focuses on John and Jackie Kennedy visiting Buckingham Palace in 1961, contrasting the youth of the Kennedys with the royals’ middle-aged mopes, one couple embodying a new hope, the other a stagnation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2017
At its weakest, though, Ford’s prose mopes with at-hand utterances: “part and parcel,” “pride and joy,” “this and that.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2017
He complains he’s getting out of shape, but then just mopes around the house and watches Star Wars for the bazillionth time.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
Police said the investigation was at an early stage but it was believed the moped had been pursuing the e-bike cyclist prior to the crash.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Simson's moped division puttered on after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall but eventually went bust in 2002.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
“To ride a motorcycle or moped, you need to have the appropriate driver’s license and comply with rules of the road.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026
In some cities this week there were long queues of moped riders at petrol stations panic-buying fuel.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
My brother was probably worrying about me while I moped in my cell like a selfish brat.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
He doesn’t respond to his various wake-up calls with stubborn defiance but a curiosity that shifts his moping into something akin to a geeky, fun-loving second adolescence.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026
Instead of moping over the setback, Ohtani has started eyeing his next boundary-pushing maneuver: To be a leadoff hitter and high-leverage reliever in the same game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
As macho as the protagonist of a Lifetime movie, moping like an adolescent and watching too much TV, Mr. White’s Springsteen is clearly depressed, but Mr. Cooper’s script doesn’t provide much illumination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
"My whole life turned upside down, and I spent ages moping and just sitting around," said the 34-year-old.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2025
I had been silent and moping for hours, glancing down from time to time in nervousness at the screen on my phone.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
