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Glite Dictionary
😔 Low spirits 🌊 Calm ocean area
doldrum

doldrum

8 7.5
A time when someone feels sad and has little energy
  • noun
  • /ˈdoʊldrəm/
  • Informal
translation icon : depresión
  • You need somebody to pull you out of those doldrums.
  • economic doldrums

It was more like doldrums, midlife doldrums, which I think is much more common.

Examples

  • But we've been in the doldrums for months.

    Hurricane (2018)

  • Florida State spent half a decade in the doldrums before climbing out.

    Blog text (4)

  • Well, we are out of the doldrums at last, sir.

    Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

  • I hope my journey will help many of you to get out of the doldrums and into life again!

    Blog text (15)

  • Just the thing to lift you out of the doldrums.

    Black Friday (1940)

  • Usually, chocolate helped pull her out of the doldrums, but today it didn't seem to be helping much.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • After decades in the doldrums, downtown San Diego began to experience a boom during the mid-1980s.

    Academic text (2008)

  • With the economy in the doldrums, expensive, largely symbolic projects were impoverishing the treasury.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The economic doldrums of the mid-1970s, as well as a growing sense of government intrusion in education

    Academic text (2006)

  • After several months of feeling stuck in a rut, she realized she was just in a doldrum and needed a change.

Synonyms

boredom
vsdoldrum
85 1.3

A feeling of being tired and restless when you have nothing to do

is a longer inactive period that includes low spirits and lack of action
lull
vsdoldrum
28 4.6

A short quiet time when activity pauses

is a negative moodful period rather than just a brief quiet pause
torpor
vsdoldrum
3 8.9

A period of very low energy and little activity

is more about low mood and boredom than purely low energy
humdrum
vsdoldrum
1 6.7

A boring state with little variety or excitement

is broader, covering low spirits and inactivity beyond mere monotony
dreariness
vsdoldrum
1 6.2

A dull, gloomy feeling that makes things seem not interesting

is a time of low spirits and inactivity rather than an atmosphere
jadedness
vsdoldrum
1 7.5

A feeling of being tired and bored after having too much of something

is a low-energy period that may occur without prior overuse
doldrums
vsdoldrum
  • Informal
7.6

A period when activity is low and progress stops

is a general low spirit period not limited to business or art
blahs
vsdoldrum
  • Informal
8.2

A feeling of being bored and not wanting to do anything

is a fuller period of low spirits and inactivity rather than a mild mood
post-holiday slump
vsdoldrum
5.2

A time when you feel low and lose motivation after a holiday ends

is a general low period not tied to a specific event like holidays

Antonyms

excitement
434 1.0

A strong feeling of happiness and eagerness, or something that causes it

enthusiasm
288 2.2

A strong feeling of excitement and interest in something

How Down

depression
330 3.7
despondency
4 8.3
doldrum
  • Informal
8 7.5
listlessness
2 6.8
boredom
85 1.3

Surface Forms

doldrum singular
doldrums plural

Etymology

A helpful way to remember doldrum is to think of the sea image: sailors used doldrums for calm, stuck waters, and people then used it for a time of 'low spirits' or 'inactivity'. So being in the doldrum today means feeling slow, bored, or sad, like a ship that cannot move.