Cheerless cheapskate at liberty (9)

I believe the answer is:

miserable

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'cheerless' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'cheapskate at liberty' is the wordplay.
'cheapskate' becomes 'miser' (cheapskate can mean a miserly person).
'at liberty' becomes 'able' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'miser'+'able'='MISERABLE'

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(Other definitions for miserable that I've seen before include "Wretched, pitiful" , "Dreary - pathetic" , "Glum, wretched" , "Depressed" , "Wretchedly unhappy" .)

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