Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective cheerless contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of cheerless are bleak, desolate, dismal, dreary, and gloomy. While all these words mean "devoid of cheer or comfort," cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

When could bleak be used to replace cheerless?

The meanings of bleak and cheerless largely overlap; however, bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

Where would desolate be a reasonable alternative to cheerless?

In some situations, the words desolate and cheerless are roughly equivalent. However, desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

When is it sensible to use dismal instead of cheerless?

While in some cases nearly identical to cheerless, dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

When might dreary be a better fit than cheerless?

The synonyms dreary and cheerless are sometimes interchangeable, but dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

When is gloomy a more appropriate choice than cheerless?

While the synonyms gloomy and cheerless are close in meaning, gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cheerless For three days, things were cheerless for Courtney Williams. Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 28 May 2025 Gomez gestured across the street toward 100 Centre Street—the criminal courthouse, a cheerless Art Deco building the color of cinder blocks. Sarah Lustbader, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025 Gomez gestured across the street toward 100 Centre Street—the criminal courthouse, a cheerless Art Deco building the color of cinder blocks. Sarah Lustbader, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025 Wedged between the cheerless skyscrapers of Third Avenue and an uncharming stretch of Second, just blocks north of the bro bars of Murray Hill, is a row of nine townhouses. Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 2 Aug. 2024 Election polls may seem cheerless, inscrutable, and wrapped in data and murky terminology. W. Joseph Campbell, Fortune, 29 Oct. 2024 Their lives had been expended in cheerless labor, there wills broken, their intelligences numbed. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 5 July 2024 That turned an entertaining exhibition into an awkward and cheerless faux-competitive affair. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2022 For all his gloom, Mann was not entirely cheerless. Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cheerless
Adjective
  • At the same time, others who attended this year’s California Democratic Party Convention dismissed any notion that the future of the Democratic Party is bleak.
    Linh Tat, Oc Register, 31 May 2025
  • The early options on the GOP side are bleak: Neither Donalds nor Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife who’s said to be interested in succeeding him, is the moderate Florida so desperately needs now.
    Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • Set in a town ruled by absurd karate law, the film watches as a lonely teen forms an unlikely bond with the ghost of his late father’s favorite action hero.
    Matt Grobar, Deadline, 27 May 2025
  • If there was no Stitch, Lilo would have remained a lonely girl, and Nani silently suffering from her massive responsibilities.
    Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 26 May 2025
Adjective
  • Plus, the combination of the stone fireplace and the dark wood cabinets and shelves flanking it contributed to the overall impression of a somber, too-serious space.
    Meghan Holloran, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 May 2025
  • Trump will participate in the traditional wreath-laying ceremony and speak at the cemetery’s amphitheater, in what has been a somber occasion for U.S. presidents.
    Orlando Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 May 2025
Adjective
  • His dark worldview is premised on the pessimistic presumption that the world will turn on the Jews if given the chance, which is why the Israeli leader has long prized hard power over diplomatic understandings.
    Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025
  • Blast off at Baltimore's science fiction convention, see natural beauty envisioned by artists from around the world, take a stroll after dark at the zoo, celebrate Baltimore creatives or go to a legendary concert.
    John Coffren, Baltimore Sun, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • The mortality rates of small indie presses and literary journals are a depressing feature of our cultural landscape.
    Michael Washburn, National Review, 25 May 2025
  • Despite there being ample intrigue and mystery around what happened to Peter's first wife, the truth is pretty depressing.
    Randall Colburn, EW.com, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • The location is on federal land just north of the U.S.-Mexico border along a desolate stretch of the Sonoran Desert about 72 miles south-southwest of Tucson.
    Doha Madani, NBC news, 5 May 2025
  • Even the trailers for Superman have echos of the Man of Steel and Batman v Superman trailers, including starting with Superman falling out of the sky into a desolate Arctic area.
    Mark Hughes, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The investigation specifically focused on 1,422 fathers who were screened for depressive symptoms when their children were five years old, Schmitz told Newsweek.
    Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
  • For every past depressive episode, the likelihood of having another one goes up.
    Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, 2 May 2025
Adjective
  • It’s filled with gorgeous, serene shots of tastefully stately locales, from giant towers to simple rooms (even what looks like the inside of a fast food restaurant has a kind of lonesome grandeur to it).
    Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2025
  • Outside, Archer Avenue is lonesome in the daylight, austere Resurrection Cemetery stretching along one side and depressed dusty parking lots and industrial-looking buildings lining the other side.
    Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 8 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Cheerless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cheerless. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.

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