sadness

[sad-nis]

noun

1. the quality or state of being sad; sorrow.

   It’s frustrating to know the sadness you’re feeling and not be able to help you.

2. an instance of sorrow.

   How can you be so unaware of the sadnesses these children have experienced?

Word History and Origins

Origin of sadness¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English sadnesse; sad ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

"I am sad, my whole life is filled with sadness," said a mother, whose son was among the children taken by the gunmen.

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"It's with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia," she wrote.

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Calling for the release of the abductees, Pope Leo XIV expressed "immense sadness" and urged the authorities to act swiftly.

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But an air of sadness pervades the grand staircases and halls of the Rand Club.

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Mr. Eyman touches on a great sadness here, that of a lifelong insecurity that made a fiercely intelligent woman hide within a statue of her own making.

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Related Words

• anguish 
• grief 
• heartache 
• heartbreak 
• hopelessness 
• melancholy 
• misery 
• mourning 
• poignancy 
• sorrow