sorrow
Americannoun
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distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment, etc.; grief, sadness, or regret.
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a cause or occasion of grief or regret, as an affliction, a misfortune, or trouble.
His first sorrow was the bank failure.
- Synonyms:
- adversity
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the expression of grief, sadness, disappointment, or the like.
muffled sorrow.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the characteristic feeling of sadness, grief, or regret associated with loss, bereavement, sympathy for another's suffering, for an injury done, etc
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a particular cause or source of regret, grief, etc
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Also called: sorrowing. the outward expression of grief or sadness
verb
Related Words
Sorrow, distress, grief, misery, woe imply bitter suffering, especially as caused by loss or misfortune. Sorrow is the most general term. Grief is keen suffering, especially for a particular reason. Distress implies anxiety, anguish, or acute suffering caused by the pressure of trouble or adversity. Misery suggests such great and unremitting pain or wretchedness of body or mind as crushes the spirit. Woe is deep or inconsolable grief or misery.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorrow
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English sorg; cognate with German Sorge, Dutch zorg, Old Norse sorg, Gothic saurga; (verb) Middle English sorwen, Old English sorgian; cognate with Old High German sorgôn
Explanation
Sorrow is a feeling of immense sadness, like the sorrow you would feel if your best friend suddenly moved across the country. Sorrow is an almost unbearable sadness. In fact, it is often used as a synonym for grief. If you drop a pretty picture frame and it breaks, you might feel sad. If, on the other hand, your entire house — including that picture frame — burns to the ground, you will feel sorrow at the loss of everything, including the photographs and other mementos you can never replace.
Vocabulary lists containing sorrow
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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Emotions on Display
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sorrow and wonder intermingle in the astute girl’s turbulent journey.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025
His burial will follow a service at the the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrow in the district of Maryino, where Navalny used to live.
From BBC • Mar. 1, 2024
In fact, they're having so much fun that they are living in a full-fledged, delusional fantasy that makes "Barbie" look like "The Sorrow and the Pity."
From Salon • Aug. 21, 2023
Birth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair, are suffering; not to get what one desires, is suffering.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
He released the Sorrow Eater,who fell in a heap on the rock.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
