sorrow
Americannoun
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distress caused by loss, affliction, disappointment, etc.; grief, sadness, or regret.
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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)
noun
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the characteristic feeling of sadness, grief, or regret associated with loss, bereavement, sympathy for another's suffering, for an injury done, etc
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a particular cause or source of regret, grief, etc
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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
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sorrowsimple
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sorrowssimple
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have sorrowedperfect
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has sorrowedperfect
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am sorrowingprogressive
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are sorrowingprogressive
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is sorrowingprogressive
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have been sorrowingperfect progressive
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has been sorrowingperfect progressive
Past
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sorrowedsimple
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had sorrowedperfect
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was sorrowingprogressive
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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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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:
In a TV interview, Savannah, 54, revealed her fear and sorrow about what she might have risked by showcasing her mother to the wider world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 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
To voice Rogue’s sorrow, Zann leaned into her own grief over the passing of her 17-year-old niece from cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
"Tears arise from the pain and sorrow that surges within a person, and the world sees this truth," declared Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, rebutting US President Donald Trump's claim that these were "fake tears".
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Down in the sea caves his mother knew his sorrow and came up to try to comfort him.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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
A devoted husband and father, he was forced to contend with the sorrows of life when he and his wife, Isabel, lost two little children to illness; they went on to rear four more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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
Witnessing Raye's experiences in the industry – both the successes and the sorrows - ultimately stopped Amma from pursuing music "for a really long time".
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025
What joys and sorrows lie ahead for her?
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
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
We sorrowed with you, we wrote letters to you, we boasted about you.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Oh, you don’t believe me? Well. The woman who made them is a wicked thing. And broken. She sorrowed until she could sorrow no more, and now she is quite mad.”
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
Any information will be gladly received by their sorrowing mother, Catherine Mason, at 1818 Hancock St., between Master and Thompson, Phila.
From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2015
They dressed the maiden as though for her death and carried her to the hill with greater sorrowing than if it had been to her tomb.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
