sorrowful
Americanadjective
-
full of or feeling sorrow; grieved; sad.
- Synonyms:
- unhappy
-
showing or expressing sorrow; mournful; plaintive.
a sorrowful song.
- Synonyms:
- melancholy
-
involving or causing sorrow; distressing.
a sorrowful event.
- Synonyms:
- heartbreaking, piteous
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorrowful
before 900; Middle English sorowful, Old English sorgful. See sorrow, -ful
Explanation
Use the adjective sorrowful to describe a sad feeling, especially when it involves grief or loss. You feel sorrowful when you lose someone you love. Sorrowful is a melancholy adjective: when your heart is broken, you are sorrowful, and when your beloved cat dies you're also sorrowful. There is a sense of permanent loss behind the word sorrowful. It comes from the sense of being "full of sorrow," and the ultimate root is the Old English word sorg, which means "grief, regret, trouble, or care."
Vocabulary lists containing sorrowful
The Cay
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List 10
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Cry Me A River: Synonyms for "Sad"
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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.
Sorrowful songs and images from past protests note the cyclical urgency of the events, a plight inherited from a previous generation under the same oppressor.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 11, 2021
Is Schuller’s house of “Possibility Thinking” an apt home for the Sorrowful Mysteries?
From Washington Post • Jul. 17, 2019
In 1989, the record executive Robert Hurwitz attended a London performance of the Polish composer Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3, subtitled “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.”
From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2017
Best animal appearances The little owl with an unusually mobile neck in A Lullaby for the Sorrowful Mystery.
From The Guardian • Feb. 21, 2016
"He was a Sorrowful Man. There was a manticore in that jewel box he gave me. This man knocked it out of my hand."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
