melancholy

American  

[mel-uhn-kol-ee] / ˈmɛl ənˌkɒl i /

noun

plural

melancholies

1. a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged; depression.

   Synonyms:

   despondency, dejection, sadness

   Antonyms:

   happiness, cheer

2. sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.

   Synonyms:

   seriousness

3. Archaic.

   1. the condition of having too much black bile, considered in ancient and medieval medicine to cause gloominess and depression.

   2. black bile.

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adjective

1. affected with, characterized by, or showing melancholy; mournful; depressed.

   a melancholy mood.

   Synonyms:

   downcast, glum, doleful, dismal, sorrowful, dispirited, blue, despondent, gloomy

2. causing melancholy or sadness; saddening.

   a melancholy occasion.

   Antonyms:

   happy

3. soberly thoughtful; pensive.

   Synonyms:

   serious

melancholy British  

/ ˈmɛlənˌkɒlɪlɪ, ˈmɛlənkəlɪ /

noun

1. a constitutional tendency to gloominess or depression

2. a sad thoughtful state of mind; pensiveness

3. archaic

   1. a gloomy character, thought to be caused by too much black bile

   2. one of the four bodily humours; black bile See humour

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adjective

1. characterized by, causing, or expressing sadness, dejection, etc

Other Word Forms

• melancholily
  adverb
• melancholiness
  noun
• unmelancholy
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of melancholy

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English melancholie, from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek melancholía ”condition of having black bile,” equivalent to melan- “black” + chol(ḗ) “bile, gall” + -ia noun suffix; see origin at melan(o)-, chol-, -ia

Explanation

Melancholy is beyond sad: as a noun or an adjective, it's a word for the gloomiest of spirits. Being melancholy means that you're overcome in sorrow, wrapped up in sorrowful thoughts. The word started off as a noun for deep sadness, from a rather disgusting source. Back in medieval times, people thought that secretions of the body called "humors" determined their feelings, so a depressed person was thought to have too much of the humor known as melancholy — literally "black bile" secreted from the spleen. Fortunately, we no longer think we're ruled by our spleens, and that black bile has been replaced by another color of sorrow: the "blues."

Example Sentences

American critic Susan Sontag crowned Krasznahorkai the "master of the apocalypse" after having read his second book "The Melancholy of Resistance" in 1989, the Academy said.

From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025

His follow-up, “The Melancholy of Resistance,” published in 1989, places the reader in a similar uneasy and apocalyptic world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

Marc-André Dalbavie’s opera based on Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s surrealistic novel “The Melancholy of Resistance” will premiere next summer in Berlin.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 29, 2023

Melancholy and meditative, “The Island We Made” doesn’t tell a story so much as imply a mood; the music is a wash of ambient electronic sound, pricked by glittering pulses of harp.

From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2021

“Harmless? Look at the cover! A Collection of Melancholy Poetry. That is what the title promises. But ‘Made happy by the verdant scene’?

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• boredom
• despair
• desperation
• despondency
• ennui
• gloom
• grief
• sorrow
• wistfulness