spiritless

adj

"spiritless" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.

Corpus desk

Index EN-spiritless · spiritless · English

spiritless · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" 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 spiritless
PropertyValue
Headwordspiritless
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “spiritless” sits in English frequency

spiritless falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

spiritless is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Lacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for spiritless, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From spirit + -less. The correct English form is spiritless, spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-L-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. The team played a spiritless first half, just going through the motions. But the realization they were playing for their sick friend energized them for the second half.

Etymology

From spirit + -less.

This word in other languages

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "spiritless"?
"spiritless" is spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-L-E-S-S.
What does "spiritless" mean?
As an adjective, "spiritless" means: Lacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.
What is the origin of the word "spiritless"?
From spirit + -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.

What to do next

You've looked up "spiritless". Here's where to go from here.

  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list