sorrowful
Americanadjective
-
full of or feeling sorrow; grieved; sad.
- Synonyms:
- unhappy
-
showing or expressing sorrow; mournful; plaintive.
a sorrowful song.
- Synonyms:
- melancholy
-
involving or causing sorrow; distressing.
a sorrowful event.
- Synonyms:
- heartbreaking, piteous
Other Word Forms
- oversorrowful adjective
- oversorrowfully adverb
- oversorrowfulness noun
- sorrowfully adverb
- sorrowfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of sorrowful
before 900; Middle English sorowful, Old English sorgful. See sorrow, -ful
Explanation
Use the adjective sorrowful to describe a sad feeling, especially when it involves grief or loss. You feel sorrowful when you lose someone you love. Sorrowful is a melancholy adjective: when your heart is broken, you are sorrowful, and when your beloved cat dies you're also sorrowful. There is a sense of permanent loss behind the word sorrowful. It comes from the sense of being "full of sorrow," and the ultimate root is the Old English word sorg, which means "grief, regret, trouble, or care."
Vocabulary lists containing sorrowful
The Cay
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List 10
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Cry Me A River: Synonyms for "Sad"
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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.
A complex, funny, plangently sorrowful Pygmalion story is enacted between two people who are connected but also held apart by their separate histories of oppression.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
"It will be a very sombre celebration… deeply sad and sorrowful but it will also acknowledge their heritage and their culture."
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani described his passing as "sorrowful", calling him a "noble and thoughtful actor of Iranian cinema" in a post on X.
From Barron's • Nov. 11, 2025
At the start, music is mournful but not quite sorrowful, a lightly contemplative jazz-inspired feel anchored by a steel hang drum.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 11, 2025
Through the portcullis there came a sorrowful howling to bear out Sir Grummore’s statement, as it had been thirty couple of hounds baying the moon.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
