grinch

noun

ˈgrinch How to pronounce grinch (audio)
Definition of grinchnext
as in cynic
a person who spoils the pleasure of others accused the mayor of being a grinch after he cancelled the city's annual holiday parade for budgetary reasons

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 grinch Tired of looking like the grinch (can't help the hair). — David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Feb. 2025 The Pompano Beach, Fla. doesn’t play grinch alone; Veeze, Lil Yachty, Rob49, Juvenile, and B.G. also appear on the project. — Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 27 Dec. 2024 Buy Now 08 of 26 'How My Neighbor Stole Christmas' by Meghan Quinn A neighborhood grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas courtesy of his sunshiny neighbor in How My Neighbor Stole Christmas. — Sabienna Bowman, People.com, 14 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grinch
  1. cynic
  2. drag
  3. killjoy
  4. crab
  5. spoilsport
  6. bore
  7. party pooper
  8. wet blanket
Noun
  • All one needs is to read the headlines today, 45 years down the road, to see that sometimes cynics have a point.
    — George Monastiriakos, Newsweek, 30 Dec. 2024
  • The cynics say the wildfires are the death knell of the film business.
    — Todd Heyman, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Definition of cynic
Noun
  • In November 2022, Kelley shared a TikTok video highlighting their role as an ambassador while discussing their positive experiences as an LGBTQ+ service member and drag performer.
    — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Rising imports are a drag on GDP. Before Friday's data, GDPNow was comfortably in positive territory, at +2.3%.
    — Axios, Axios, 28 Feb. 2025
Definition of drag
Noun
  • Within the dog-button community, Horowitz is regarded as a killjoy.
    — Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Esther is the original feminist killjoy — acerbic, brilliant, obsessive, confrontational, deeply relatable.
    — Jillian Eugenios, NBC News, 29 Dec. 2024
Definition of killjoy
Noun
  • Her demo class features mantou buns, or fried buns, traditionally served in Singapore with chili crab.
    — Alissa Fitzgerald, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
  • The crab was born on June 24, 2015, and died on Feb. 18, 2025.
    — Skyler Caruso, People.com, 20 Feb. 2025
Definition of crab
Noun
  • Suddenly, the Republicans were the spoilsports who couldn’t take the joke, a position stereotypically held by politically correct liberals.
    — Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 9 Aug. 2024
  • Millennial workers are increasingly becoming the office spoilsports, with young people increasingly likely to be in it for the money rather than for fun, as years of economic turmoil force them to keep their heads down, collect their monthly paychecks, and fight for a promotion.
    — BYRyan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 26 June 2024
Definition of spoilsport
Noun
  • Again, the temperature rose far earlier than expected, and the KTB team was also surprised to find that the rock at this depth was not solid, and large amounts of fluid and gas were pouring into the bore hole to complicate the effort further.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 23 Feb. 2025
  • Eli Sharabi’s home bore marks from the attack months later.
    — ASSOCIATED PRESS, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025
Definition of bore
Noun
  • Despite his literal change of heart, the Grinch continues to symbolize holiday party poopers everywhere.
    — Mike Miller, People.com, 19 Dec. 2024
  • Mosquitoes are, in fact, hellish little bugs that take the gold for summer’s biggest party poopers.
    — Katie Camero, SELF, 25 July 2024
Definition of party pooper
Noun
  • Misty is a bit of a wet blanket, so Callie drugs her with some cold medicine in her drink; soon, she’s passed out on the sofa.
    — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 14 Feb. 2025
  • Assassin's Creed 3 After a whole trilogy led by the suave Ezio, Assassin's Creed III's Connor felt like a wet blanket.
    — John Mac Ghlionn, Newsweek, 13 Jan. 2025
Definition of wet blanket

Browse Nearby Words

grinch
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Cite this Entry

“Grinch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grinch. Accessed 8 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Words You Always Have to Look Up
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Superb Owl Words

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things
See More

Popular Features

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

9 Superb Owl Words

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
girl-pencil-test
Challenging Standardized Test Words Quiz Vol. 3 You’re on your own for the math section.
See All