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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
Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
The risk posed by the potential prohibition of that longstanding arrangement was heightened by Apple’s clear pursuit of a third-party LLM leader to enhance Siri, which has been viewed as a disappointment following the lackluster rollout of Apple Intelligence.
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 29 Dec. 2025
Where familiar mainstream voices dropped somewhat lackluster releases, younger acts released what felt like career-defining projects.
—Rolling Stone, 29 Dec. 2025
Detroit’s interior offensive line has been one of the reasons for the team’s lackluster season.
—Alec Lewis, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lackluster
Cite this Entry
“Lackluster.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lackluster. Accessed 31 Dec. 2025.
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lackluster
adjective
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