mope

1 of 2

verb

ˈmōp

moped; moping

intransitive verb

: to give oneself up to brooding : become listless or dejected

I was feeling depressed and just moped around all day.

: to move slowly or aimlessly : dawdle

the little woman does mope along in traffic

Paul Jones

archaic : to act in a dazed or stupid manner

moper noun

mopey

ˈmō-pē

adjective

mope

2 of 2

noun

: one that mopes

mopes plural : blues sense 1

Example Sentences

Verb Like a little child, he often moped when he didn't get what he wanted. we were in a rush, and the Sunday driver in front of us was just moping along

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Meanwhile, Paradise's current group of women have been shipped off to a hotel to mope and worry about what their men are doing.

Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 14 Oct. 2022 All Tino can do is just sit there and mope on the couch in full Eeyore mode.

Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 21 Sep. 2022 According to Limitless International owner Dawaun Wells, St. Louis accepted that as a challenge and didn’t mope.

Gregg Voss, chicagotribune.com, 26 Jan. 2022 As this revelation sinks in, Nany and Kaycee mope on the sidelines thinking about how their dream of crossing the finish line together as a couple has died.

Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 16 Dec. 2021 Joe Exotic isn’t the type to mope around after a paramour dumps him for a bright (ha!) future in butthole lighteners.

Joan Kubicek, Vulture, 20 Nov. 2021 Brosnahan looks sad and exquisite, kind of like if a Renoir painting came to life and wanted to mope on a chaise lounge for a few hours to contemplate sentiency.

Devon Ivie, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2021 While everyone watched with heated anticipation to see how the spider (his clothing brand’s symbol) would spring to life, the arachnid did little but stand still and mope — a Spinal Tap-like Stonehenge totem.

A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 6 Sep. 2021 Those with college ambitions either could mope and wallow in sorrow or figure out ways to move forward on their own.

Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2021

Noun

Alas, this murder leads to Louis' first vampiric mope session.

Sara Netzley, EW.com, 10 Oct. 2022 Segel delivers another of his compellingly muted takes on a wary mope, constantly on the lookout for what will go wrong next.

Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2022 Rather than mope after the trip's cancellation, the students chose to make a major impact on the lives of others by using the money to help the Navajo Nation, which is struggling amid the pandemic.

David Blank, CNN, 3 June 2020 Amid that, though, a guy who had every reason to mope, was instead busy looking for blessings.

oregonlive, 2 Apr. 2020 Rob — the loafer and the mope, the impressively successful Lothario and pretentious little troll — is the protagonist of this book, which could be called autofiction (the author is also named Rob Doyle), anti-woke polemic or obsessive riff.

Parul Sehgal, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2020 What do the helmets so many of you carp-brained mopes opt to leave at home actually protect against?

Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 17 Sep. 2019 Edmunds, giving away 6 inches and a good 50 pounds to Gronkowski, didn’t mope or waste a second trying to shake the cobwebs out.

Will Graves, The Seattle Times, 26 Dec. 2018 In Gilmore Girls, Jared Padalecki played the often mope-y Dean, who wasn't always great at expressing his feelings.

Brittney Mcnamara, Teen Vogue, 10 Oct. 2018 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mope.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.