killjoy

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

From kill + joy, first attested in 1776.

As to Christian or unchristian, I repudiate your canting palavering Christianity; and as to the way in which I spend my income, it is not my principle to maintain thieves and cheat offspring of their due inheritance in order to support religion and set myself up as a saintly Killjoy. — Middlemarch, George Eliot
And when the Fair is over, and we are no longer invited to "walk up," let us march in the train of the great Mime, until he takes his ease in his inn,--the Black Jack aforesaid,--and laugh at his jibes and flashes of merriment, before the Mad Wag shall be silenced by the great killjoy, Death, and the jester's boon companions shall lay him in the graveyard in Portugal Fields, placing over him a friendly record of his social virtues. — The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings, Mark Lemon
And,” he added, laughing heartily, “I swear to you that every one gets a great deal of enjoyment out of it.” “In this place?” “Yes, in this place.” “You surprise me.” “Mon Dieu, they enjoy themselves because they have not that fear of death which is the great killjoy in all our earthly pleasures.” “But why should they be members of this club if they do not kill themselves?” “One may be a member of the club without being obliged for that reason to commit suicide.” “But then?” “I will explain. — Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant, Guy de Maupassant

spoilsport, wet blanket, party pooper

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