Standard Lemma guide

humorless

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: HH Y UW1 M ER0 L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Lacking humor or levity; serious; not funny, amusing, amused, or lighthearted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Examples

  • He watched the little dog's antics with a humorless stare.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: harsh, jokeless, mirthless, unfunny, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreary, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, gloomy, grim, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, miserable, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

lacking humor- Truman Capote

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it was a humorless wink; a wink of warning

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: humourless, unhumorous

Antonyms: humorous

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English humor Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English humorless From humor + -less.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: humorloos — lacking humor
  • Finnish: kuivakka — lacking humor
  • Finnish: tosikkomainen — lacking humor
  • German: witzlos — lacking humor
  • German: humorlos — lacking humor
  • Russian: лишенный чувства юмора (lišennyj čuvstva jumora) — lacking humor