melancholy
a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged; depression.
sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.
Archaic.
the condition of having too much black bile, considered in ancient and medieval medicine to cause gloominess and depression.
black bile.
Origin of melancholy
1Other words for melancholy
Opposites for melancholy
Other words from melancholy
- mel·an·chol·i·ly, adverb
- mel·an·chol·i·ness, noun
- un·mel·an·chol·y, adjective
Words Nearby melancholy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use melancholy in a sentence
In The Ringer, Rob Harvilla wrote that the album lacked any potential for pop hits as well as the “propulsion and the melancholy severity” of her past work.
Aaron Hicks, the Yankees’ $10 million-a-year center fielder, recently asked to sit out a game because he’d been rendered melancholy by the national news of the day.
Gene Weingarten: Take me out to the Old. Word. Game. | Gene Weingarten | May 6, 2021 | Washington PostIn three months, NASA will come upon the 10th anniversary of the final space shuttle flight, a period that was surely melancholy for the space agency.
NASA gets what it wanted: Independent, reliable access to space | Eric Berger | April 23, 2021 | Ars TechnicaWilde wrote The Happy Prince and Other Tales, which, despite the title, all have a certain melancholy about them.
The researcher’s team also found that users with a tendency to post or engage with melancholy content—a possible sign of depression—could easily spiral into consuming increasingly negative material that risked further worsening their mental health.
How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation | Karen Hao | March 11, 2021 | MIT Technology Review
I found their melancholy inviting and I appreciated their contemplative, lonely world.
In the first chapter, rebellious Holly Sykes runs away from home and headlong into the melancholy perils of first love.
David Mitchell’s ‘The Bone Clocks’ Is Fun But Mostly Empty Calories | William O’Connor | September 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST"Ah, that trip with Lance," he said, then glanced down, with those melancholy eyes.
The slurring of relationships and transactions has effects ranging from the gruesome to the melancholy.
Meet The Former Call Girl Saving Hookers For Jesus | Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig | July 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTYoung and gracious faces, somewhat remote and proud, but with a melancholy and sweet kindness.
The Real Memorial Day: Oliver Wendell Holmes's Salute To A Momentous American Anniversary | Malcolm Jones | May 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut, when the car came thundering down, it was crammed to the step; with a melancholy gesture, the driver declined her signal.
Hilda Lessways | Arnold BennettAt the same time he is appreciative and very amusing, and one has no chance to indulge in melancholy with him.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayQuaint old Burton in his "Anatomy of melancholy," recognizes the virtues of the plant while he anathematizes its abuse.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.There is among women always a melancholy satisfaction in seeing the very last of the beloved object.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsThere is nothing like it among us at the present day except within the melancholy precincts of the penitentiary.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen Leacock
British Dictionary definitions for melancholy
/ (ˈmɛlənkəlɪ) /
a constitutional tendency to gloominess or depression
a sad thoughtful state of mind; pensiveness
archaic
a gloomy character, thought to be caused by too much black bile
one of the four bodily humours; black bile: See humour (def. 8)
characterized by, causing, or expressing sadness, dejection, etc
Origin of melancholy
1Derived forms of melancholy
- melancholily (ˈmɛlənˌkɒlɪlɪ), adverb
- melancholiness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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