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Lackluster may describe things that are dull, but the word itself is no yawn. In its earliest uses in the early 17th century, lackluster (also spelled lacklustre) usually described eyes that were dull or lacking in brightness, as in “a lackluster stare.” Later, it came to describe other things whose sheen had been removed; Charles Dickens, in his 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit, writes of the faded image of the dragon on the sign outside a village alehouse: “many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of grey.” These days lackluster is broadly used to describe anything blah, from a spiritless sensation to a humdrum hump day.
Examples of lackluster in a Sentence
Jim Harrington, Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2026
Legacy automakers General Motors and Ford Motor have lost billions of dollars on EVs and are pulling back partly because of the loss of a federal tax credit and lackluster consumer demand.
—Michael Wayland, CNBC, 6 Feb. 2026
But despite the lackluster play, many fans and analysts don’t place the blame squarely on Darnold.
—Greg Rosenstein, NBC news, 6 Feb. 2026
Hiring plans remained lackluster, with only 5,306 intentions announced, the lowest total for January since Challenger started tracking the series in 2009.
—Reuters
wire Service, Dallas Morning News, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for lackluster
Cite this Entry
“Lackluster.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lackluster. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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lackluster
adjective
