Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Sadness or depression of the spirits; gloom.
- noun Pensive reflection or contemplation.
- noun Black bile.
- noun An emotional state characterized by sullenness and outbreaks of violent anger, believed to arise from an excess of black bile.
- adjective Feeling, showing, or expressing depression of the spirits; sad or dejected. synonym: sad.
- adjective Causing or tending to cause sadness or gloom.
- adjective Pensive; thoughtful.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
melancholia ; in old use, insanity of any kind. - noun A gloomy state of mind, particularly when habitual or of considerable duration; depression of spirits arising from grief or natural disposition; dejection; sadness. Also, in technical use, melancholia.
- noun Sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.
- noun Bitterness of feeling; ill nature.
- noun Synonyms Hypochondria, gloominess, despondency.
- Produced by melancholia or madness of any kind.
- Affected by depression of spirits; depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy.
- Given to contemplation; thoughtful; pensive. See I., 3.
- Producing or fitted to produce sadness or gloom; sad; mournful: as, a melancholy fact; a melancholy event.
- Grave or gloomy in character; suggestive of melancholy; somber.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess.
- noun Great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia.
- noun obsolete Pensive maditation; serious thoughtfulness.
- noun obsolete Ill nature.
- adjective Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal.
- adjective Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive.
- adjective obsolete Somewhat deranged in mind; having the jugment impaired.
- adjective Favorable to meditation; somber.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Affected with great
sadness ordepression . - noun historical
Black bile , formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinalhumours " of animal bodies. - noun Great
sadness ordepression , especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a feeling of thoughtful sadness
- noun a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy
- adjective grave or even gloomy in character
- noun a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
- adjective characterized by or causing or expressing sadness
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I hate to overuse the word 'melancholy,' but it is at this point.
On the Set Farewell to Chuck Part 3: Cast Tears and Favorite Moments 2012
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The two sisters and Lord L. were then solicitous to know what was the occasion, which he called melancholy, that had engaged his attendance so many days at Canterbury.
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He had heard the day before from his friend's aunt, a helpless person to whom telegraphy was difficult and travel inconceivable, and who, in eight pages of unpunctuated eloquence, made over to Dick what she called the melancholy privilege of winding up her nephew's affairs.
Sanctuary Edith Wharton 1899
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Mrs. Shandy, who will know nothing of love or of passion, and will not trouble herself about Madame de Mortsauf or Lady Dudley; who will be wholly indifferent to those moments of ennui which you call melancholy, during which you are as lively as a rainy day, -- a wife who will be to you, in short, the excellent sister of charity whom you are seeking.
The Lily of the Valley Honor�� de Balzac 1824
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The adjective "melancholy" is correct, but it is something less than pleasure.
Preface 1925
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Still, when talk turns toward carbon footprints and global warming, lately a certain melancholy -- almost a vague acedia -- has begun to shadow my heart.
Cathleen Falsani: God Is Green: Why 'Less Bad' Is Not Good Cathleen Falsani 2010
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Still, when talk turns toward carbon footprints and global warming, lately a certain melancholy -- almost a vague acedia -- has begun to shadow my heart.
Cathleen Falsani: God Is Green: Why 'Less Bad' Is Not Good Cathleen Falsani 2010
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Still, when talk turns toward carbon footprints and global warming, lately a certain melancholy -- almost a vague acedia -- has begun to shadow my heart.
Cathleen Falsani: God Is Green: Why 'Less Bad' Is Not Good Cathleen Falsani 2010
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I think de Lint tells stories with a certain melancholy in them very well.
Book Cover Smackdown! 'Muse and Reverie' vs. 'Wings of Wrath' vs. 'Lesser Demons' 2010
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Still, when talk turns toward carbon footprints and global warming, lately a certain melancholy -- almost a vague acedia -- has begun to shadow my heart.
Cathleen Falsani: God Is Green: Why 'Less Bad' Is Not Good Cathleen Falsani 2010
케발컨 commented on the word melancholy
No comments? I'm gonna start one. I love this word!
August 9, 2008
nyokou commented on the word melancholy
I will always picture Haruhi Suzumiya when I think of this word.
December 2, 2008
theloupgarou commented on the word melancholy
I always think "the melancholy death of oyster boy" by Tim Burton when I see this word.
May 13, 2009
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word melancholy
She dwells with Beauty -- Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips;
Ay, in the very temple of delight
Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
-John Keats, Ode on Melancholy
July 26, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word melancholy
It seems an unexpected symbol of the plaintive melancholy of the Portuguese character that the small confections which we call kisses they call sighs, suspiros. --The Atlantic Monthly, Vol.6, No. 37, November 1860.
October 17, 2011