How to Use woebegone in a Sentence

woebegone

adjective
  • His face had a woebegone expression.
  • Is there a more woebegone movie genre than the video game adaptation?
    — Jake Coyle, Star Tribune, 21 Apr. 2021
  • Hicks has the right look for a woebegone young woman who doesn’t want to take up a lot of space in the world.
    — Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 30 May 2018
  • Throw in a Hooker, and the woebegone Tigers will be on their way.
    — Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY, 11 Oct. 2022
  • That long drought has made Seattle a woebegone franchise, the butt of jokes.
    — Tim Booth, ajc, 1 Oct. 2022
  • But when the game began, the woebegone Jets quickly raced to a two-touchdown lead.
    — Bill Pennington, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2019
  • And talk about a pair of woebegone franchises failing to help one another.
    — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 28 Dec. 2020
  • With back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning, the woebegone Twins had broken open a previously one-run game.
    — Mike Vorkunov, New York Times, 26 June 2016
  • The woebegone skipper is a frequent target for Cards fans, but this ejection happens to have been a prudent one.
    — Jack Dickey, SI.com, 17 Aug. 2017
  • James could go to the Knicks and revive a woebegone franchise that hasn’t won a title since 1973.
    — Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY, 9 June 2018
  • In Portland, woebegone passengers took to Twitter to vent as a sheet of ice left most planes grounded.
    — oregonlive, 28 Dec. 2022
  • Some of the men have put their arms around one another’s shoulders, sort of in a band-of-brothers-ish way, and all of our faces are woebegone and depleted.
    — Barrett Swanson, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019
  • America’s frackers need only look at the country’s woebegone coalminers to catch a glimpse of their fate in a distant post-oil future.
    — The Economist, 15 Mar. 2018
  • Its woebegone people — faces and facts devoid of political analysis — are like an army of the brainwashed.
    — Armond White, National Review, 16 June 2021
  • Rivers spent seven seasons with the Clippers, making the playoffs in six of them — major success for a once-woebegone franchise.
    — Dan Gelston, Houston Chronicle, 1 Oct. 2020
  • After a year spent off the rails, Taggart also should breathe some life and energy into a suddenly sour and woebegone program.
    — Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2018
  • Dolan isn’t merely the owner of a rich but woebegone franchise but an embarrassment to the NBA.
    — Nick Leyva, Orange County Register, 22 Apr. 2017
  • But credit Warner for leading the long woebegone Rams and Cardinals out of the wilderness.
    — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2018
  • His career took off, though, when Jackson's Tony Dungy became coach of the otherwise woebegone Bucs.
    — Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 9 Aug. 2021
  • In two years Curt Cignetti took a woebegone college team, with nary a five-star player, to an undefeated national championship.
    — Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2026
  • More than the once-formidable-now-woebegone New York Giants, which the 49ers also faced eight times in playoffs.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Baylor trailed the woebegone Cyclones by 17 points in the first half before getting its act together over the final 20 minutes.
    — Brent Zwerneman, San Antonio Express-News, 27 Feb. 2021
  • While the penalty kill (5 for 5) did its job, allowing six shots, the power play (0 for 5) continued to be a woebegone situation.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Mar. 2023
  • But what Muschamp has done to repair a once-woebegone program, capped this year with a 7-3 record (so far) that nobody really saw coming, deserves more of a commitment from the school.
    — David Caraviello, ajc, 12 Nov. 2017
  • In what has become a ritual for the woebegone Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw played catch Tuesday afternoon.
    — Andy McCullough, latimes.com, 15 May 2018
  • Adams’ declaration reminded me of the scene from Animal House, when John Belushi’s character gave a pep talk to woebegone frat brothers.
    — Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 28 Dec. 2020
  • After three seasons of almost nothing but dread and sorrow, the NBA’s most woebegone franchise, for generations, finally had a moment to celebrate.
    — David Aldridge, New York Times, 11 May 2026
  • For two of the world’s most woebegone places, Afghanistan and Gaza, glimmers of a return to athletic competition show why sports do indeed retain that eternal power of joy – and possible rejuvenation.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 31 Jan. 2025
  • The Panda Express in the basement food court of downtown’s San Francisco Centre, the city’s largest mall, has closed, leaving the woebegone retail destination without any restaurants.
    — Mario Cortez, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Colorado’s puzzling 8-6 loss to woebegone Vancouver this past Wednesday was the Avs’ sixth game dressed as the Quebec Nordiques, and they’re now dropped three straight games while going retro — including two straight in regulation.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026

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

Last Updated: