unhumorous

adjective

Definition of unhumorousnext
as in uncomic

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unhumorous Unlike Dickens, to whom he was sometimes compared, Balzac didn’t care for or about children, and was essentially unhumorous. — Elif Batuman, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unhumorous
  1. humorless
  2. lame
  3. earnest
  4. serious
  5. unfunny
  6. unamusing
  7. somber
  8. tragic
Adjective
  • Walker joins as the imposing, entitled and humorless Peter Van Laar III, the wealthy heir to the Van Laar estate, whose behavior is a struggle for both his wife, Alice, and 13-year-old daughter.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 28 May 2026
  • Patton, a notoriously tough and humorless commander, considered Willy and Joe to be a threat to discipline and morale — quite the opposite of the way many fans saw them.
    — Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 23 Mar. 2026
Definition of humorless
Adjective
  • French cities have been shaken in recent weeks by vandalism and looting sparked by cost-of-living demonstrations, amid a broader crisis besieging the country’s lame-duck centrist government that has spiked French bond yields.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Poetry gets left behind by the exigency of character development or, in the movie’s self-defeating logic, because the art form doesn’t really matter and is only a lame excuse for people who won’t take responsibility and grow up.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of lame
Adjective
  • Hemsworth’s work has always spanned genres—just look at his omnivorous DJ sets—but Numbskull positions him as a more traditional songwriter, underscored by the album’s personal, earnest tone.
    — Mehan Jayasuriya, Pitchfork, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Her earnest speech, after the curtain came down, made headlines.
    — Sarah Crompton, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of earnest
Adjective
  • The Tallahassee Police Department said in a statement that 11 of the 12 were shot and that three victims had serious injuries, with one minor in serious condition.
    — Samantha Cookinham, NBC news, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Bake this classic all the way through for a light and tender crumb, or cut the bake time short for serious gooey goodness in the center.
    — Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of serious
Adjective
  • The film’s pick-me jabs at humor are frankly, flatly unfunny and grating, twisting the film at times into a perverse, almost self-aware treatise on tweeness.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 20 Oct. 2026
  • So maybe a gratuitous and unfunny line about anyone taking out American cities is better left unsaid.
    — Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of unfunny
Adjective
  • For some, the fundamental flaw will be that, despite the title, the comic material (mostly culled from vintage gags of the period) the characters perform onstage sounds painfully unamusing to contemporary ears.
    — Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Oct. 2017
Definition of unamusing
Adjective
  • The daughter of a brass tree guest told me that on the last day, her mother pulled her aside and offered a somber warning.
    — Kate Berlant, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Miller's new ad opens with a somber sequence of close-ups of various people's faces as the congressman talks about how divorce affects families.
    — Lara Korte The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of somber
Adjective
  • The death was confirmed via his wife, Nella Vera, who shared the tragic news on her Instagram account on Tuesday.
    — Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2026
  • That legacy has shaped a tragic disparity in Jacksonville, which has three of the 10 worst ZIP codes for child firearm injury rates in Florida, according to an analysis of hospital claims data obtained by KFF Health News and The Trace.
    — Yona Gavino, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of tragic

Browse Nearby Words

unhooks
unhumorous
unhurried
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Unhumorous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unhumorous. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of reticent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All