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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
Christina Perrier, InStyle, 31 Dec. 2025
Apple had a lackluster 2025, rising 9% for the year while the S & P 500 advanced around 17%.
—Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 31 Dec. 2025
After a lackluster stint in Houston last year, Diggs ended up in New England, signing a three-year, $69 million deal in free agency that guaranteed him $26 million.
—Michael Casey, Twin Cities, 30 Dec. 2025
At the time, liberalism’s leading intellectuals laughed off public annoyance at Obama’s lackluster performance, declaring that to expect big things from him was to believe—childishly, contemptibly—that the president was a kind of superhero.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 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 5 Jan. 2026.
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lackluster
adjective
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