spoilsport

• spoil-sport (dated)

From the verbal expression spoil sport (“ruin the amusement”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɔɪl.spɔːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspɔɪl.spɔɹt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

spoilsport (plural spoilsports)

1. Someone who puts an end to others' fun, especially harmless fun.

   Synonyms: killjoy, party pooper; see also Thesaurus:spoilsport

   • 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter XIV, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC:

     I know I am a sad spoilsport, but it would make me wretched.

   • 1912 February 6 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Androcles and the Lion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 31:

     He looks a spoilsport. There are men in whose presence it is impossible to have any fun: men who are a sort of walking conscience.

spoilsport (comparative more spoilsport, superlative most spoilsport)

1. Like a spoilsport.
   • 2019 September 10, Phil McNulty, “'England horribly fallible in defence' against Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifying”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     It may seem somewhat spoilsport to focus in on this negative after another important victory but to ignore it would be delusion. Southgate will not be letting it escape his attention.