cheerless

adj

"cheerless" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cheerless” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Devoid of cheer; gloomy.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cheerless · cheerless · English

cheerless · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for cheerless
PropertyValue
Headwordcheerless
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “cheerless” in English

cheerlesssits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cheerless is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Devoid of cheer; gloomy.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cheerless, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cheer + -less. The correct English form is cheerless, spelled C-H-E-E-R-L-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Devoid of cheer; gloomy.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cheerless appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I then went on, beginning with the rise and progress of the primitive religions, and coming down to the various religions of the present time, during which time I labored to show Queequeg that all these Lents, Ramadans, and prolonged ham-squattings in cold, cheerless rooms were stark nonsense; […]
  2. Men, women and children work together seven days in the week in these cheerless tenements to make a living for the family, from the break of day till far into the night.

Etymology

From cheer + -less.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cheerless"?
"cheerless" is spelled C-H-E-E-R-L-E-S-S.
What does "cheerless" mean?
As an adjective, "cheerless" means: Devoid of cheer; gloomy.
What is the origin of the word "cheerless"?
From cheer + -less. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list