dispiriting 1 of 2

dispiriting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of dispirit

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 dispiriting
Verb
In this excerpt, adapted from Seller’s memoir, Theater Kid (out on May 6 from Simon & Schuster), the producer lays out the musical’s long road from dispiriting workshop to its simultaneously triumphant and tragic first preview performance. Jeffrey Seller, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025 One particularly dispiriting departure is that of Peter Marks, the longtime leader of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 2 Apr. 2025 One of the very depressing and dispiriting aspects of this is that Congress is not standing up for its prerogatives. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2025 The outcome ended what had been a dispiriting history for Maryland (25-7). Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 15 Mar. 2025 If blowout losses and dispiriting performances characterized the 2023-24 Sharks season, the team’s 2024-25 season has been pockmarked by heartbreak, with an almost uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2025 The lengthy injury report is really dispiriting, with Dallas also down Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and midseason acquisition Caleb Martin. Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025 Who better, then, to pry Eve loose than a rangy, rakish music journalist (Benjamin Bratt) whose game includes unironic hat-wearing and — like a dispiriting number of men in his age bracket — the unembarrassed deployment of Stephen Stills lyrics? Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025 The Vols look to avenge last month’s dispiriting loss in Knoxville; the Wildcats can earn a statement sweep of a respected team. Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 11 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dispiriting
Verb
  • Actions by officials in the two countries are also discouraging Canadian tourists from looking south.
    Skyler Swisher, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2025
  • Good air circulation will allow leaves and stems to dry out, discouraging disease.
    Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, 12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • And yet the industry is beset by a dismaying trend: More and more, people are watching movies on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Feb. 2014
  • For the Congolese government, the ineffective Western responses follow a dismaying pattern.
    Michela Wrong, Foreign Affairs, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The daunting task of his care at their Manhattan apartment has fallen to his wife, with assistance from a home aide.
    Jim Farber, Rolling Stone, 5 June 2025
  • But after sweeping to a decisive victory over conservative rival Kim Moon-soo on Tuesday, Lee Jae-myung faces a daunting task.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 4 June 2025
Adjective
  • Most troubling is a lack of true concern or remedies for a huge problem for America, our national debt, and the service on that $36 trillion debt, which amounts to almost a trillion dollars a year.
    Gary Franks, Hartford Courant, 6 June 2025
  • Furthermore, the occurrence is arguably even more troubling since newer vehicles have become so reliant on software for driving features.
    Charles Singh, USA Today, 6 June 2025
Adjective
  • What makes these situations even more troublesome is that McDonald said that there may be no access to Wi-Fi where travelers are vacationing, especially after being abducted.
    Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 5 June 2025
  • The request to Congress is seen as unlikely to meaningfully change the troublesome increase in the U.S. national debt.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 4 June 2025
Adjective
  • For Armstrong, capturing the humanity of these men paints a more unsettling portrait than pure billionaire-trolling might.
    Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 30 May 2025
  • The main case under investigation is unsettling and satisfyingly intricate, with ample thematic connections to Morck, Akram and Rose’s respective forms of psychological damage.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 29 May 2025
Adjective
  • Nothing has officially happened yet, but the tension is disturbing with the consequences potentially devastating.
    Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 May 2025
  • That’s a quite disturbing possibility since AGI could wield such an act on a scale of immense magnitude and with globally adverse consequences.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
Adjective
  • In another worrisome sign for Israel, the Trump administration recently negotiated the release of an Israeli American dual citizen, Edan Alexander, without the country’s involvement.
    Daniel Byman, The Atlantic, 24 May 2025
  • Grayson Rodriguez won’t be back until at least June and has a worrisome elbow and other injuries.
    Paul Bledsoe, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dispiriting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dispiriting. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.

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