Dictionary

comfortless en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkʌmfəɹtləs/ (General-American)
• /ˈkʌmfətləs/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English comfortles; equivalent to comfort + -less.

Meanings

1. Of a person: deprived of comfort; uncomforted.
   • O my ſvveet ſir, nevves fitting to the night, / Blacke, fearefull, comfortleſſe, and horrible. c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 21, column 2:
   • The Queene is comfortleſſe, and wee forgetfull / In our long abſence: pray doe not deliuer, / What heere y'haue heard to her. 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 215, column 2:
   • The hope I dreamed of was a dream, / Was but a dream; and now I wake / Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old, / For a dream's sake. 1862, Christina Rossetti, “Mirage”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 104:
   • I will nott leave you comfoꝛtleſſe: I will come vnto you. 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John xiiij:[18], folio cxliij, recto:
   • [W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […] 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With Proper Psalmes, and Lessons for Diuers Feastes and Dayes. [The Accencion Daie. Proper Psalms and Lessons.]”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio lxviii, recto:
2. Of a thing: offering no comfort; uncomforting.
   • In comfortless, damp blankets we got through the night. 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 4, in Klee Wyck:
   • I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although wetted by the rain, which poured from a black and comfortless sky. 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 102–103:
   • Alas poore hart, that kiſſe is comfortleſſe, / As frozen vvater to a ſtarued ſnake. c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature F3, recto:
   • The former ſaid it would be better to wait till the moon, which now appeared faintly, ſhould afford them light to ſee the marks which, in ſuch places, are generally made to direct travellers through the floods. To this the men, and particularly Heurthofen, reluctantly conſented; but as the wind and rain ſeemed to contend which ſhould render their ſtay the moſt comfortleſs, they ſoon became impatient, and again repreſented the poſſibility of paſſing in perfect ſecurity. 1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter IV, in The Banished Man. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, page 82:

Forms

Deriveds

comfortlessly · comfortlessness

Synonyms

morose · unmerry · lack-laughter · solemn · dreich · mirthless · lugubrious · bleak · saturnine · spiritless · bleak · uncheery · gloomsome · joyless · dire · sombre · cheerless · sullen · drearisome · no joke · drear · forlorn · uncheerful · dreary · wintry · dolesome · grim · melancholy · dreary · somber · unhappy · depressing · gray · sunless · doleful · gloomy · disconsolate · gayless · miserable · comfortless · woeful · desolate · dark · dismal

Translations (1)

bg безутешен (deprived of comfort)