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)
-
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
-
sorrowfulnessnoun
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sorrowfuladjective
-
sorrowlessadjective
-
unsorrowingadjective
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sorrowfullyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sorrowsimple
-
sorrowssimple
-
have sorrowedperfect
-
has sorrowedperfect
-
am sorrowingprogressive
-
are sorrowingprogressive
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is sorrowingprogressive
-
have been sorrowingperfect progressive
-
has been sorrowingperfect progressive
Past
-
sorrowedsimple
-
had sorrowedperfect
-
was sorrowingprogressive
-
were sorrowingprogressive
-
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:
With great humanity, “Ulysses S. Cat” makes the case for pets, not as toys or diversions, but as companions in joy, sorrow and all the rest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
"We stand with them in their sorrow and will remember Hyron with great affection and respect."
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
"With profound grief and sorrow, I urge the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and take strict action against anyone found responsible so that such tragedies can be prevented in the future," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Lew expressed his sorrow at the deaths of the family members and said the department was in mourning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
This prediction was but half fulfilled: I did not indeed dream of sorrow, but as little did I dream of joy; for I never slept at all.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
It’s not just a byproduct of social media, 24/7 cable news and our shared tendency to drowning in constant updates on the sorrows of the world.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 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
"Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom," he said.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 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
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
Innumerable American children sorrowed; nurses worried; mothers wrote, letters to Mr. Cox.
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
Though sprinkled with reminders of Lynch and Cronenberg and others, Tippett’s defiantly adult vision has a freakish originality and a sorrowing tone that’s oddly touching.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 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
Courtney coming to get her, and then, having seen her, turning away sorrowing: “Never, never, never.”
From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
