joyless.

Lacking pleasure, delight, or a sense of happiness.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• joyless routine
• joyless celebration

On the page

The victory became a joyless exercise in protocol.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more joyless; superlative most joyless when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.