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.
Ali’s mournful assassin is trying to stay one step ahead of his enemies and, likewise, the movie fights like hell to elude conventionality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Watching “Unzipped” together ahead of this piece, my friend remarked that the film is “so fabulous it’s mournful to watch.”
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
The singer Roniece Levias took control during the track’s final minute, filling it with mournful vocal runs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Inside the packed hall, dozens sang mournful songs as the three white coffins stood in the centre of the room, each placed beside a smiling photograph.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
He gave me a mournful look, but he let her do it.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
