mournful
Americanadjective
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feeling or expressing sorrow or grief; sorrowful; sad.
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of or relating to mourning for the dead.
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causing grief or lament.
a mournful occasion.
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gloomy, somber, or dreary, as in appearance or character.
mournful shadows.
adjective
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evoking grief; sorrowful
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gloomy; sad
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mournful
First recorded in 1375–1425, mournful is from the late Middle English word morneful. See mourn, -ful
Explanation
A mournful person is someone who is full of sorrow, like a little girl who has just lost her new puppy. Mournful is a word that is often associated with someone who has experienced the death of someone close to them. A person would feel mournful if their loved one had just died. Mournful can also describe the expression of sad feelings, like a person dressed in black and sobbing into a handkerchief. You would not be mournful if you had just failed a quiz, but you would be mournful if your twenty-year marriage had just failed.
Vocabulary lists containing mournful
List 4
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"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
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Chains
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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.
Mournful, rhythmic chanting — Priscilla Ahn performing with High Seas — fills the space, as if the singer-songwriter is crooning from the bottom of the well.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2022
Mournful sirens replaced the usual bustle and din.
From Scientific American • Feb. 23, 2022
At age 15, she won an Emmy for Best Actress in the TV film "Tell Me Not in Mournful Numbers."
From Fox News • Jul. 18, 2021
They also knew it as Tikapa Moana of the Mournful Sea, which might be more accurate for those who, in the coming races, will have to decipher the mystery of it winds.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2021
When the memories of his youth And his lost dominions green, Smite the soul of Atta Troll, Mournful sobs escape his breast.
From Atta Troll by Heine, Heinrich
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.
