Meaning & use
cold and cheerless
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparableliterary
Unpleasantly cold and without comfort, warmth, or anything that lifts the spirits.
Grammar: Used as a pair of linked adjectives; it can go before a noun (a cold and cheerless room) or after a linking verb (the room felt cold and cheerless).
Patterns
- a cold and cheerless place
- feel cold and cheerless
- cold and cheerless weather
The waiting room was cold and cheerless, with bare walls and one flickering light.
After the guests left, the hall felt cold and cheerless.
We spent a cold and cheerless night in the empty house.
adjectivenot comparableliterary
Showing no friendliness or warmth toward other people; unwelcoming in manner.
Grammar: Describes people, faces, or atmospheres; it usually follows a linking verb when talking about manner.
Patterns
- a cold and cheerless welcome
- a cold and cheerless expression
- seem cold and cheerless
His cold and cheerless greeting made us feel we were not wanted.
She gave a cold and cheerless smile and said nothing more.
The office had a cold and cheerless atmosphere that discouraged visitors.
Common combinations
- a cold and cheerless room
- They gave us a cold and cheerless room at the back of the hotel.
- cold and cheerless weather
- The forecast promised more cold and cheerless weather for the weekend.
- feel cold and cheerless
- Without the fire lit, the cottage felt cold and cheerless.
- a cold and cheerless welcome
- We received a cold and cheerless welcome at the front desk.
- cold and cheerless surroundings
- He grew up in cold and cheerless surroundings but stayed cheerful himself.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bleak
- Bleak stresses a lack of hope or comfort and is common for landscapes and prospects; cold and cheerless focuses more on physical chill and lack of warmth.
- gloomy
- Gloomy is about darkness or low mood and can describe a person's outlook; cold and cheerless is more about an unwelcoming place or manner.
- dismal
- Dismal suggests something depressingly poor or dreary; cold and cheerless is narrower and usually about temperature and lack of welcome.
- unwelcoming
- Unwelcoming fits people and places that make you feel unwanted, but it says nothing about coldness; cold and cheerless includes that physical chill.
Opposites
Word family
- cheerless adjective
- Without cheer or comfort; the single-word form of the second half of the phrase.
- cheerlessly adverb
- In a way that shows no cheer or comfort.
- cheerlessness noun
- The state of being without cheer or comfort.
- chilly adjective
- Noticeably cold in an unpleasant way; close in meaning to the first half of the phrase.
Commonly confused: cold and cheerless or cheerful?
cold and cheerless vs cheerful
Cheerful means happy and bright, the opposite of cheerless, so 'cold and cheerful' describes a completely different feeling.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cold and cheerless' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
The phrase describes an unwelcoming place or atmosphere, so an empty dormitory fits. Option 0 is wrong because we do not use it for food temperature alone, option 2 confuses it with 'unenthusiastic,' and option 3 makes no sense with a manner of running.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cold and cheerless”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.