1
as in bowed
directed down her downcast gaze made us realize that she was shy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in depressed
feeling unhappiness I'm always a little downcast on rainy days

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 downcast She’s a housewife, always a bit downcast, or least quiet and reserved. Ben Croll, Variety, 16 Jan. 2023 In one video, irate workers surrounded a silent, downcast manager in a conference room to voice grievances and question their Covid test results. Fortune, 23 Nov. 2022 In one video, irate workers surrounded a silent, downcast manager in a conference room to voice grievances and question their COVID test results. BostonGlobe.com, 23 Nov. 2022 On Tuesday morning, Buster, wearing a downcast expression, pulled up in his gray GMC Yukon outside the Georgia apartment, then carried a basket of laundry inside before leaving. Fox News, 14 Nov. 2022 See All Example Sentences for downcast
Recent Examples of Synonyms for downcast
Adjective
  • The composer also added synths to his orchestral score, as well as bowed metal, where a violin bow is rubbed against metal instruments like a cowbell or a Vibraphone, for when Roz has a particularly intense feeling.
    Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Jeremy Strong forwent a classic suit and tie in favor of a bowed necktie, giving his tailored look the perfect dash of whimsy.
    Christian Allaire, Vogue, 17 June 2024
Adjective
  • Mass layoffs in the Beltway could force some residents to put their homes up for sale at depressed values, denting the real estate market.
    Matt Egan and Alicia Wallace, CNN, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Examples include formerly depressed but now vibrant cities, such as Pittsburgh, and once stagnant but now relatively successful developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Rwanda.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • This downward trend in litigation expenses factored into U.S. Soccer’s ability to end the latest fiscal year nearly $6 million in the black, marking the first time since 2018 that the organization has posted a positive financial result.
    Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Much of the Floridan Aquifer is shielded significantly from downward migration of pollution by overlying layers of dense, impermeable clay.
    Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Oklahoma represents the sad conclusion of the Trail of Tears, and Tulsa serves as the meeting point for tribal nations—the Osage, Muscogee, and Cherokee.
    Nicholas Lalla, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Police sad officers began providing aid to Mitchell, but medics later pronounced him dead at the scene.
    Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The Penguins listed Bunting as a healthy scratch early this season because coaches were unhappy with his effort in games and practices.
    Josh Yohe, The Athletic, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Independent distributors are unhappy with the growing percentage of royalty payments for their artists that are too low to be worth processing.
    Bill Rosenblatt, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The record for the shortest Oscar-winning performance goes to Beatrice Straight, who played the heartbroken wife of a philandering TV station president in Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film Network.
    Jordan Runtagh, People.com, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Listen to this article Skokie restaurateurs were left heartbroken on Valentine’s Day when a broken water main disaster in northeastern Skokie left the village without drinkable tap water from Feb. 14 through 16.
    Richard Requena, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Its economic position is parlous, its demographic situation is miserable and its military capacities have atrophied, and most of the chest-thumping about a revival of European power is empty talk and fantasy politics.
    Ross Douthat, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
  • But running — the exercise that can happen almost anywhere, any time and for very little expense — always felt miserable.
    Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 2 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Even the quieter domestic dramas vying less for box-office glory and more for Academy Awards acclaim feature music lush with classical detail, like Carter Burwell’s melancholy strings in Carol, giving twinkly lyricism to the emotional violence roiling beneath the characters’ skins.
    Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2025
  • Instead, their new record is merely 47 minutes and 17 seconds of relative silence and white noise, a melancholy display of the sound of music if there’s no artists to actually create it.
    Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Downcast.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/downcast. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on downcast

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!