dolorous

American  

[dol-er-uhs, doh-ler-] / ˈdɒl ər əs, ˈdoʊ lər- /

adjective

1. full of, expressing, or causing pain or sorrow; grievous; mournful.

   a dolorous melody; dolorous news.

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dolorous British  

/ ˈdɒlərəs /

adjective

1. causing or involving pain or sorrow

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Other Word Forms

• dolorously adverb
• dolorousness noun
• undolorous adjective
• undolorously adverb
• undolorousness noun

Etymology

Origin of dolorous

1375–1425; Middle English dolorous, dolerous < Anglo-French, Old French; dolor, -ous

Explanation

Dolorous is not a woman's name (that's Dolores), it is an adjective that describes someone showing great sadness. If your friend Dolores is crying about a lost puppy, you could call her dolorous Dolores. Music written in a minor key can have a dolorous effect. It sounds really sad, and can make you feel the same way. Dolorous shares the same root with the word, condolence, an expression of sympathy with someone's sadness. Both of these words come from the Latin word for grief, dolor, which in current Spanish happens to mean pain.

Example Sentences

Race features prominently in “Butts,” including the disturbing, dolorous history of Sarah Baartman, a Khoe woman from South Africa whose ample backside became a freak-show spectacle in London in 1810.

From Washington Post • Nov. 25, 2022

His Mexican fans, known as Manoletistas, wore lapel pins of his face — his “elongated, dolorous profile,” as one reporter described it.

From New York Times • May 3, 2022

Sleep-deprived and dolorous in nostalgia, I’d reverted to my old role as the gloomy one.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 22, 2016

Hunt and Underwood, for example, sat down for most of their number, while James Bay and Tori Kelly slowed down their medley of songs to a dolorous shuffle.

From The Guardian • Feb. 16, 2016

She was slumped over and her face was dolorous.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers