How to Use killjoy in a Sentence

killjoy

noun
  • I don't want to sound like a killjoy, but shouldn't we study tonight?
  • Which poem, and why did the killjoys at the magazine turn it down?
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Stay a while Another eclipse killjoy?
    — Maya Silver, Outside, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Ghilarducci is not aiming to be a killjoy just for the hell of it.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2022
  • Nobody wants to be the killjoy that pokes holes in the joke-makers’ stories of themselves.
    — Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 June 2023
  • So sorry to be a killjoy, Hoosiers’ fans, but Michigan wins this one big.
    — USA TODAY, 7 Nov. 2020
  • Well, without seeming like a pedantic killjoy, there are those legal niceties of the system.
    — vanityfair.com, 23 May 2017
  • Feminists don’t want to pose as killjoys bent on confiscating mani-pedis.
    — Amanda Hess, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Not to be a killjoy, but your bi-weekly happy hour could also be interfering with your goals.
    — Women's Health, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The cloying, dull pain of chafing or blisters is one of the biggest backpacking killjoys.
    — Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 23 Apr. 2018
  • With all the effort that goes into taking care of your lawn, watching the grass be ruined by your pet’s urine can be a killjoy.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 June 2023
  • While the lawyers play killjoys, work is continuing on the project for now, including on the party car.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2024
  • In the end, at the risk of sounding like a killjoy, a real way to save the planet and save money is to just buy and produce less.
    — Kara McGrath, Allure, 22 Apr. 2026
  • That doesn’t mean this week’s episode of The Monitor is just three killjoys in a room being the worst, though.
    — Wired Staff, WIRED, 17 Aug. 2016
  • The dithering middle-age killjoys follow the girls, and their dates, from prom to lakeside after-party to hotel bash.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Instead, using a refund to pay off a credit card balance feels far from a joyous event and more like a big financial killjoy.
    — cleveland.com, 27 Apr. 2018
  • Anybody who asks for more from this new production, therefore, or who points out what is missing, risks the charge of being the merest killjoy.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Cinemas have opened; music is performed in public; the killjoy morality police are off the streets.
    — The Economist, 23 June 2018
  • Not surprisingly, the overwhelming response from readers told me to stop being a killjoy.
    — Sal Pizarro, Mercury News, 2 Dec. 2025
  • Our favorite killjoy Dana Stevens wonders whether the movie’s visually overwhelming look is at all matched by its plot.
    — Rebecca Onion, Slate Magazine, 29 Sep. 2017
  • But as emissions rise, the killjoys are resorting to shame and repulsion as weapons against environmental evils.
    — The Economist, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Lately the literary novel has gotten stuck with a reputation as the killjoy roommate in the house of fiction.
    — Sam Sacks, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2017
  • Within the dog-button community, Horowitz is regarded as a killjoy.
    — Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Bangladeshis follow the World Cup fervently, ignoring killjoy officials who have tried to stop them flying flags.
    — The Economist, 9 June 2018
  • But Sennott’s script is smart not to make Maia such a killjoy straightman opposite Tallulah.
    — Caroline Framke, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2025
  • If the killjoy owners can stay out of the way, baseball could be in position to prosper, based on the results of an Ipsos poll released Thursday.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Sadly, the plan to use the full Formula 1 layout has been squashed by the killjoys at the FIA, for reasons that completely elude me.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 14 Dec. 2018
  • Reuters reports that just as Republicans were celebrating this important step, the killjoy academics at the Fed had to open their mouths and ruin everyone’s good time.
    — Bess Levin, vanityfair.com, 5 Oct. 2017
  • The new limit on pickoff throws also will facilitate more risk-taking and base-stealing by runners – a fan favorite that has been discouraged as low yield in recent years by the killjoys in the data analytics suite.
    — David Axelrod, CNN, 1 Apr. 2023
  • But when the party gets raging — when economies accelerate and stock prices ascend to levels out of whack with fundamentals — central bankers play killjoy, lifting interest rates to snuff out attendant dangers.
    — Peter S. Goodman, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'killjoy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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