sorrow

[sor-oh, sawr-oh]

noun

1. distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment, etc.; grief, sadness, or regret.

2. a cause or occasion of grief or regret, as an affliction, a misfortune, or trouble.

   His first sorrow was the bank failure.

   Synonyms: adversity

3. the expression of grief, sadness, disappointment, or the like.

   muffled sorrow.

verb (used without object)

1. to feel sorrow; grieve.

   Synonyms: lament, mourn

sorrow

/ ˈsɒrəʊ /

noun

1. the characteristic feeling of sadness, grief, or regret associated with loss, bereavement, sympathy for another's suffering, for an injury done, etc

2. a particular cause or source of regret, grief, etc

3. Also called: sorrowing. the outward expression of grief or sadness

verb

1. (intr) to mourn or grieve

Other Word Forms

• sorrower noun
• sorrowless adjective
• unsorrowing adjective
• sorrowfully adverb
• sorrowfulness noun
• sorrowful adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sorrow¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of sorrow¹

Old English sorg; related to Old Norse sorg, Gothic saurga, Old High German sworga

Idioms and Phrases

see drown one's sorrows; more in sorrow than in anger.

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus expressed in a statement his "deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts".

Read more on Barron's

"I will carry this sorrow in my conscience," he wrote, asking the victims' mothers for forgiveness.

Read more on Barron's

If he had known his inbound plane was backed up, he would have reorganized his whole day—and he wouldn’t have been drowning his sorrows in queso.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“It was confusion, it was sorrow — she lost everything,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Now, we go on remembering vicariously, performing rituals of solemnity and sorrow to honour those who died, but the meaning of those rituals have changed over the years.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• agony 
• anguish 
• hardship 
• heartache 
• heartbreak 
• melancholy 
• misery 
• mourning 
• pain 
• regret 
• remorse 
• repentance 
• sadness 
• suffering 
• unhappiness www.thesaurus.com
• worry