sparkless

S1P3A1R1K5L1E1S1S1

adjective

without a spark

Scrabble 15
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Meanings

adjectivesparkless (not comparable)
  1. not comparablewithout a spark

    The worn-out brushes in a dead starter or a short circuit in a sparkless ignition distributor would eventually be revealed to a mechanic who carefully dug through the clues.

    2007 January 28, Scott Sturgis, “A Mechanic’s Laptop Makes Manuals All but Obsolete”, in New York Times
    2 more examples

    From the contagion of the world's slow stain 5 He is secure; and now can never mourn A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain-- Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn. 41.

    1891, Shelley, Adonais

    But when we come to a fine thing in our own language--to a stanza from Shelley's "Adonais" for instance: He has outsoared the shadow of our night; Envy and calumny and hate and pain, And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can touch him not and torture not again; From the contagion of the world's slow stain He is secure, and now can never mourn A heart grown cold, a head grown gray in vain; Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn. what can you do with that?

    1939, Arthur Quiller-Couch, On The Art of Reading
  2. not comparablelacking in creativity or energy

    It's a small triumph that LiveWire's sparkless production manages to preserve the plot.

    2004 July 23, Lawrence Bommer, “Much Ado About Nothing”, in Chicago Reader
    1 more example

    Live, though, this youthful Minnesota-based band performed a somewhat sparkless set that seemed to bury the conceptual strengths, the stark voicings, and the crisp rhythms that on the album helped shape the arrangements and link the horns.

    1996 January 26, Neil Tesser, “Motion Poets”, in Chicago Reader

Origin

From spark + -less.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Japanese 閃烈
  • 閃烈 (senretsu)lacking in creativity or energy
Russian безы́скровый
  • безы́скровый (bezýskrovyj)without a spark
Cite this entry
APA

sparkless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparkless

MLA

“sparkless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparkless. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sparkless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparkless.

Source: sparkless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.