graceless

adjective

grace·​less ˈgrās-ləs How to pronounce graceless (audio)
1
: lacking in divine grace : immoral, unregenerate
2
a
: lacking a sense of propriety
a graceless accusation
b
: devoid of attractive qualities
3
: artistically inept or unbeautiful
graceless dancing
gracelessly adverb
gracelessness noun

Examples of graceless in a Sentence

Her writing can be graceless and awkward at times. a graceless person who was a butterfingered lout when it came to playing basketball
Recent Examples on the Web Still, Trump should want her endorsement and should be trying to woo her — and those voters — instead of engaging in his typically graceless behavior. The Editors, National Review, 6 Mar. 2024 In a neighborhood filled with exceptional civic architecture, the building looked all the more graceless beside Arthur Erickson’s monumental Canadian Embassy and across the street from John Russell Pope’s magisterial National Gallery of Art and I.M. Pei’s East Building. Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023 The other band members were gracious and discreet, but enough was said to leave the impression of a faintly aristocratic Reed who was graceless and intransigent. Ian Penman, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023 Ruscha’s photographs—deliberately graceless taxonomies of parking lots, swimming pools, palm trees, and the like—seem thin by comparison, lacking the paintings’ dialectic of innocence and wit. Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023 Now that the exquisite corpse of a project, too, is complete, the upshot is graceless but surprisingly satisfying. Curbed, 27 July 2022 The third season, like its predecessors, sometimes relies on graceless provocations that never mature in a way that advances the story. Yasmine Alsayyad, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2022 This month's unusually public firing of TV content chief Peter Rice stunned Hollywood insiders, aghast by what seemed a graceless breach of industry etiquette, and spooked Disney shareholders who knocked the stock down nearly 4%. Nicole Gull McElroy, Fortune, 16 June 2022 Ali’s desperation breeds a painful solitude underscored by his initially graceless homecoming. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 May 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'graceless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of graceless was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near graceless

Cite this Entry

“Graceless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graceless. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

graceless

adjective
grace·​less ˈgrā-sləs How to pronounce graceless (audio)
: having no grace, charm, or elegance
especially : showing lack of feeling for what is fitting
graceless behavior
gracelessly adverb
gracelessness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on graceless

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