sorrow
Americannoun
-
sorrows
plural
-
distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment, etc.; grief, sadness, or regret.
-
a cause or occasion of grief or regret, as an affliction, a misfortune, or trouble.
His first sorrow was the bank failure.
- Synonyms:
- adversity
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the expression of grief, sadness, disappointment, or the like.
muffled sorrow.
verb (used without object)
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sorrows,
present (3rd person singular)
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sorrowed,
past participle, past
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sorrowing
present participle
noun
-
the characteristic feeling of sadness, grief, or regret associated with loss, bereavement, sympathy for another's suffering, for an injury done, etc
-
a particular cause or source of regret, grief, etc
-
Also called: sorrowing. the outward expression of grief or sadness
verb
Synonym Usage
Sorrow, distress, grief, misery, woe imply bitter suffering, especially as caused by loss or misfortune. Sorrow is the most general term. Grief is keen suffering, especially for a particular reason. Distress implies anxiety, anguish, or acute suffering caused by the pressure of trouble or adversity. Misery suggests such great and unremitting pain or wretchedness of body or mind as crushes the spirit. Woe is deep or inconsolable grief or misery.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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sorrowernoun
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sorrowfulnessnoun
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sorrowfuladjective
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sorrowlessadjective
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unsorrowingadjective
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sorrowfullyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sorrowsimple
-
sorrowssimple
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have sorrowedperfect
-
has sorrowedperfect
-
am sorrowingprogressive
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are sorrowingprogressive
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is sorrowingprogressive
-
have been sorrowingperfect progressive
-
has been sorrowingperfect progressive
Past
-
sorrowedsimple
-
had sorrowedperfect
-
was sorrowingprogressive
-
were sorrowingprogressive
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had been sorrowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sorrow
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English sorg; cognate with German Sorge, Dutch zorg, Old Norse sorg, Gothic saurga; (verb) Middle English sorwen, Old English sorgian; cognate with Old High German sorgôn
Explanation
Sorrow is a feeling of immense sadness, like the sorrow you would feel if your best friend suddenly moved across the country. Sorrow is an almost unbearable sadness. In fact, it is often used as a synonym for grief. If you drop a pretty picture frame and it breaks, you might feel sad. If, on the other hand, your entire house — including that picture frame — burns to the ground, you will feel sorrow at the loss of everything, including the photographs and other mementos you can never replace.
Vocabulary lists containing sorrow
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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Emotions on Display
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Words inspired by "Inside Out"
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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.
See Examples For:
“The Dodgers express our deep sorrow and share our condolences over the passing of longtime fan Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele,” the team posted Dec. 15 on X.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
For decades, their families could look back at their sacrifices in sorrow but also in pride at how their lives had forged a true American democracy.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
There is shock, anger and sorrow, as well as demands for laws against animal cruelty, which China currently does not have.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin expressed sorrow at failing to halt the launch of single-stock leveraged ETFs in May, saying it might have aggravated market swings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Here, ma’am. Oh, let me do something!” cried the boy, hurrying from the next room whither he had withdrawn, feeling that their first sorrow was too sacred for even his friendly eyes to see.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Our existence is the result of our ancestors’ survival and ability to imagine a future worth enduring the present’s sorrows.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
In post-post-war American culture, suburbs and small towns are more often than not a stage for secrets, sorrows, scandals and satire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
The manuscript that shared her story with the world quoted her as promising to “hear all their cries ... and remedy all their miseries, sorrows, and pains.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
His memoir is sensational, sparkling with its insights and wrenching in its sorrows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
If in this wandering narrative I seem to have cut the cords of family joys and sorrows, of Junior’s current delinquency and junior Junior’s new tooth, of business triumph and agony, it is not so.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
And I sorrowed for my father’s harm as though I had been smitten myself; so sorrowed I for his unhappy old age.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019
“We are incredibly sorrowed at the loss of Officer Galvez and our thoughts and prayers are with all who knew and loved him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2015
You’ve clucked, sorrowed and sighed at “The Pride”: plus ça change, plus c’est la même self-esteem issue.
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2010
The Rev. George Carson, 52, pastor of the Trinity United Presbyterian Church, said that some of his parishioners were "greatly sorrowed."
From Time Magazine Archive
They sorrowed in their dreaming and they sorrowed in their waking up.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
The challenge for the author is to write a pulse-pounding thriller without sorrowing over this injustice too much.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2023
“We mend, but we don’t forget,” she offers by way of comfort to the sorrowing nobleman.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 15, 2022
Combining formal audacity with emotional intimacy and sharp social observation, the picture attains a fullness of humorous, sorrowing life.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 29, 2020
In other words, how does a three-pound lump of dendrites and axons and sodium channels create a loving, sorrowing, self-knowing self?
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2018
“The Witch prowls the woods on padded paws. She ate the heart of a sorrowing tiger long ago, and that heart still beats inside her.”
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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.
