sorrow
[sor-oh, sawr-oh]
- distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment, etc.; grief, sadness, or regret.
- a cause or occasion of grief or regret, as an affliction, a misfortune, or trouble: His first sorrow was the bank failure.
- the expression of grief, sadness, disappointment, or the like: muffled sorrow.
- to feel sorrow; grieve.
Origin of sorrow
before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English sorg; cognate with German Sorge, Dutch zorg, Old Norse sorg, Gothic saurga; (v.) Middle English sorwen, Old English sorgian; cognate with Old High German sorgôn
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com1. 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. 2. adversity. 4. mourn, lament.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sorrow
Contemporary Examples
Far from a rant, her tone throughout is cool and methodical, and her critiques are couched more in sorrow than in anger.
Her pallid young face, brow sweating with fear and pain, yet resolute and stiff with sorrow, makes you want to cry.
“The U.S. celebrates the day it became independent every year with fireworks rather than sorrow,” he said.
Some national conservatives reacted in sorrow to Brewer's annoucement.
Incapable of movement, incapable of speech, I listened to her feverish words in an agony of shame and sorrow.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Historical Examples
She gazed on his features as he slept; and was left to sorrow alone.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
There is nothing but sorrow to be found in loving her, and her heart is no larger than her feet.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
Did all the error and sorrow of her life pass distinctly before her?
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
This signifies more than the stilling of guns, easing the sorrow of war.
Mother, I know the sorrow you will feel when you hear what has happened.
Life in LondonEdwin Hodder
sorrow
- the characteristic feeling of sadness, grief, or regret associated with loss, bereavement, sympathy for another's suffering, for an injury done, etc
- a particular cause or source of regret, grief, etc
- Also called: sorrowing the outward expression of grief or sadness
- (intr) to mourn or grieve
Word Origin
Old English sorg; related to Old Norse sorg, Gothic saurga, Old High German sworga
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for sorrow
n.
Old English sorg "grief, regret, trouble, care, pain, anxiety," from Proto-Germanic *sorg- (cf. Old Saxon sorga, Old Norse sorg, Middle Dutch sorghe, Dutch zorg, Old High German soraga, German sorge, Gothic saurga), perhaps from PIE *swergh- "to worry, be sick" (cf. Sanskrit surksati "cares for," Lithuanian sergu "to be sick," Old Church Slavonic sraga "sickness," Old Irish serg "sickness"). Not connected etymologically with sore (adj.) or sorry.
v.
Old English sorgian, from sorg (see sorrow (n.)). Related: Sorrowed; sorrowing. Cf. Dutch zorgen, German sorgen, Gothic saurgan.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with sorrow
sorrow
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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