Antonyms of adj joyful

2 senses of joyful

Sense 1
joyful (vs. sorrowful) -- (full of or producing joy; "make a joyful noise"; "a joyful occasion")

sorrowful (vs. joyful) -- (experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss; "sorrowful widows"; "a sorrowful tale of death and despair"; "sorrowful news"; "even in laughter the heart is sorrowful"- Proverbs 14:13)
        => anguished, tormented, tortured -- (experiencing intense pain especially mental pain; "an anguished conscience"; "a small tormented schoolboy"; "a tortured witness to another's humiliation")
        => bereaved, bereft, grief-stricken, grieving, mourning (prenominal), sorrowing (prenominal) -- (sorrowful through loss or deprivation; "bereft of hope")
        => bitter -- (expressive of severe grief or regret; "shed bitter tears")
        => brokenhearted, heartbroken, heartsick -- (full of sorrow)
        => dolorous, dolourous, lachrymose, tearful, weeping -- (showing sorrow)
        => elegiac -- (expressing sorrow often for something past; "an elegiac lament for youthful ideals")
        => grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending -- (causing or marked by grief or anguish; "a grievous loss"; "a grievous cry"; "her sigh was heartbreaking"; "the heartrending words of Rabin's granddaughter")
        => lamenting, wailing, wailful -- (vocally expressing grief or sorrow or resembling such expression; "lamenting sinners"; "wailing mourners"; "the wailing wind"; "wailful bagpipes"; "tangle her desires with wailful sonnets"- Shakespeare)
        => lugubrious -- (excessively mournful)
        => mournful, plaintive -- (expressing sorrow)
        => sad -- (of things that make you feel sad; "sad news"; "she doesn't like sad movies"; "it was a very sad story"; "When I am dead, my dearest, / Sing no sad songs for me"- Christina Rossetti)
        => woebegone, woeful -- (affected by or full of grief or woe; "his sorrow...made him look...haggard and...woebegone"- George du Maurier)

Sense 2
elated, gleeful, joyful, jubilant -- (full of high-spirited delight; "a joyful heart")

INDIRECT (VIA joyous) -> joyless -- (not experiencing or inspiring joy; "a joyless man"; "a joyless occasion"; "joyless evenings")

Similarity of adj joyful

2 senses of joyful

Sense 1
joyful (vs. sorrowful) -- (full of or producing joy; "make a joyful noise"; "a joyful occasion")
       => beatific -- (experiencing or bestowing celestial joy; "beatific peace")
       => overjoyed -- (extremely joyful)
          Also See-> happy#1; joyous#1

Sense 2
elated, gleeful, joyful, jubilant -- (full of high-spirited delight; "a joyful heart")
       => joyous (vs. joyless) -- (full of or characterized by joy; "felt a joyous abandon"; "joyous laughter")