There is no joy in Mudville

Cultural

A line from “Casey at the Bat,” describing the reaction of the hometown crowd when their hero, Casey, strikes out, losing the big game. In general, the expression is used to describe any disappointment: “My father has just lost his job; there's no joy in Mudville tonight.”

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.

There is no joy in Mudville — Mighty Casey has too much muscle mass, his head has gotten bigger over the years and his home run-to-strikeout ratio is out of this world.

From Washington Post • Jul. 18, 2013

"There is no joy in Mudville here regarding the success we had," Jones said.

From Newsweek • Jan. 4, 2011

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023