dolorous
[dol-er-uh s, doh-ler-]
- full of, expressing, or causing pain or sorrow; grievous; mournful: a dolorous melody; dolorous news.
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Origin of dolorous
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dolorous
Contemporary Examples
Obama himself shows the dolorous dangers of unalloyed ideology, making transformation a higher priority than repair.
Historical Examples
At this Pierre could not refrain from a dolorous and vivacious interruption.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
This admission, so sincere and so dolorous to make, penetrated me.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, CompleteDuc de Saint-Simon
Then she gazed out before her, with a feeling of dolorous surprise.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
He, with his eyes fixed on the embers, had sunk back into the dolorous past.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
He stood stupefied, and so dolorous a spectacle that she could not but laugh.
Gilian The DreamerNeil Munro
dolorous
- causing or involving pain or sorrow
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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
Word Origin and History for dolorous
adj.
c.1400, "causing pain," from Old French doloros (12c., Modern French douloureux) "painful, sorrowful, wretched," from Late Latin dolorosus "painful, sorrowful," from Latin dolor "pain, grief." Sense of "causing grief" is from mid-15c.; that of "full of sorrow" is from 1510s. Related: Dolorously; dolorousness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper