Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Heaviness; weight; firmness; strength.
  • noun Steadiness; steadfastness; constancy.
  • noun Seriousness; gravity; discretion; sedateness; sobriety; sober earnest.
  • noun The state of being sad or sorrowful; sorrowfulness; mournfulness; dejection of mind: as, sadness in the remembrance of loss.
  • noun A melancholy look; gloom of countenance.
  • noun Synonyms Grief, Sorrow, etc. (see affliction); despondency, melancholy, depression.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Heaviness; firmness.
  • noun obsolete Seriousness; gravity; discretion.
  • noun Quality of being sad, or unhappy; gloominess; sorrowfulness; dejection.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The state or emotion of being sad.
  • noun countable An event in one's life that causes sadness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being
  • noun the state of being sad
  • noun the quality of excessive mournfulness and uncheerfulness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sad +‎ -ness

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