humorless

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈhjumɚləs/ UK /ˈhjuːmələs/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
lacking a sense of humor; grimly serious

The humorless clerk refused to crack even the faintest smile.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · lacking a sense of humor;... grim dour solemn serious stern grave unsmiling

Opposites

humorous witty funny jovial lighthearted

Word family

Derived forms humorlesslyhumorlessness

Related forms humor humorous

Etymology

From humor + -less; humor comes via Old French from Latin humor/umor ('moisture, bodily fluid'), the medieval sense referring to the four bodily humors that governed temperament.

humor Latin umēre Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# humorless

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈhjumɚləs
**IPA (UK):** ˈhjuːmələs

## Meanings
1. lacking a sense of humor; grimly serious

## Examples
- The humorless clerk refused to crack even the faintest smile.

## Synonyms
- grim
- dour
- solemn
- serious
- stern
- grave
- unsmiling

## Antonyms
- humorous
- witty
- funny
- jovial
- lighthearted

## Derived Forms
- humorlessly
- humorlessness

## Related Forms
- humor
- humorous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: humor
- Root: umēre

## Etymology
From humor + -less; humor comes via Old French from Latin humor/umor ('moisture, bodily fluid'), the medieval sense referring to the four bodily humors that governed temperament.

## AI Etymology
Humorless comes from humor + -less; humor comes via Old French from Latin humor/umor ('moisture, bodily fluid'), the medieval sense referring to the four bodily humors that governed temperament. The etymological trail includes Latin humor and Latin umēre. As an adjective, humorless means lacking a sense of humor; grimly serious. The same family is visible in derived forms such as humorlessly and humorlessness and related forms such as humor and humorous. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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