melancholy

Dictionary

melancholy |ˈmelənˌkälē|

noun

a deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness. • another term for melancholia (as a mental condition). • historical another term for black bile . adjective sad, gloomy, or depressed : she felt a little melancholy | the dog has a melancholy expression. See note at glum . • causing or expressing sadness; depressing : the study makes melancholy if instructive reading.

DERIVATIVES melancholic |ˌmelənˈkälik| adjective melancholically |ˌmelənˈkälək(ə)lē| adverb ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French melancolie, via late Latin from Greek melankholia, from melas, melan- ‘black’ + kholē ‘bile,’ an excess of which was formerly believed to cause depression.

Thesaurus

melancholy adjective a melancholy expression sad, sorrowful, unhappy, desolate, mournful, lugubrious, gloomy, despondent, dejected, depressed, downhearted, downcast, disconsolate, glum, miserable, wretched, dismal, morose, woeful, woebegone, doleful, joyless, heavy-hearted; informal down in the dumps, down in/at the mouth, blue; literary atrabilious. See note at glum . antonym cheerful. noun a feeling of melancholy sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, woe, desolation, melancholia, dejection, depression, despondency, cafard, gloom, gloominess, misery; informal the dumps, the blues.