mope

[mohp]

verb (used without object)

moped, moping 

1. to be sunk in dejection or listless apathy; sulk; brood.

verb (used with object)

moped, moping 

1. to make dejected, listless, or apathetic.

noun

1. a person who mopes or is given to moping.

2. mopes, depressed spirits; blues.

mope

/ məʊp /

verb

1. to be gloomy or apathetic

   there's no time to mope

2. to move or act in an aimless way

   he moped around the flat

noun

1. a gloomy person

Other Word Forms

• moper noun
• mopy adjective
• mopingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of mope¹

First recorded in 1560–70; variant of mop ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of mope¹

C16: perhaps from obsolete mope fool and related to _mop ²

Example Sentences

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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mary does get her heart bruised again by a duplicitous Yank, but this time she doesn’t mope about it.

Read more on Salon

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.

Read more on Salon

Women who weep are seen as "too emotional" while men who mope can be shamed for being soft and vulnerable, she says.

Read more on BBC

He’s since apologized, saying, “I do town halls all around the world, and as you know, I mope sometimes.”

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• brood 
• sulk