Synonyms for melancholy
ˈmɛl ənˌkɒl imelan·cho·ly

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. melancholy

   Grief is acute mental pain resulting from loss, misfortune, or deep disappointment. Grief is more acute and less enduring than sorrow. Sorrow and grief are for definite cause; sadness and melancholy may arise from a vague sense of want or loss, from a low state of health, or other ill-defined cause; sadness may be momentary; melancholy is more enduring, and may become chronic. Affliction expresses a deep heart-sorrow and is applied also to the misfortune producing such sorrow; mourning most frequently denotes sorrow publicly expressed, or the public expression of such sorrow as may reasonably be expected; as, it is common to observe thirty days of mourning on the death of an officer of state.

   See synonyms for HAPPINESS.

   Synonyms:
   affliction, distress, grief, mourning, regret, sadness, sorrow, tribulation, trouble, wo

   Preposition:
   Grief at a loss; for a friend.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. melancholyadjective

   Synonyms:
   gloomy, sad, dejected, disconsolate, dismal, moody, hypochondriacal, cast down

   Antonyms:
   lively, sprightly, gladsome, gleesome, blithesome, happy, cheerful, gamesome, mirthful, merry

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.4 / 7 votes

1. melancholynoun

   a feeling of thoughtful sadness

   Synonyms:
   black bile

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, glad

2. melancholynoun

   a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed

   Synonyms:
   black bile

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, glad

3. black bile, melancholyadjective

   a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy

   Synonyms:
   black bile

   Antonyms:
   glad, cheerful

4. melancholy, melancholicadjective

   characterized by or causing or expressing sadness

   "growing more melancholy every hour"; "her melancholic smile"; "we acquainted him with the melancholy truth"

   Synonyms:
   sombre, somber, melancholic

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, glad

5. somber, sombre, melancholyadjective

   grave or even gloomy in character

   "solemn and mournful music"; "a suit of somber black"; "a somber mood"

   Synonyms:
   sombre, somber, drab, melancholic, sober

   Antonyms:
   cheerful, glad

Matched Categories

1. • Depression
   • Sadness

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sad

   a feeling of sorrow; normally with no cause

   "for some reason he felt melancholy when she woke up"

   Submitted by rinat on September 10, 2019  

2. sadnessnoun

   Submitted by Lucifee_97 on May 27, 2022  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. melancholynoun

   Synonyms:
   dejection, depression, gloominess, sadness, gloom, despondency, hypochondria, blues, blue devils, dumps, megrims, vapors, low spirits, depression of spirits

2. melancholyadjective

   Synonyms:
   dejected, dispirited, depressed, sad, sorrowful, LACKADAISICAL, atrabillous, gloomy, hypochondriac, BLUE, dumpish, mopish, glum, downcast, desponding, down-hearted, chap-fallen, crest-fallen, hypped, low-spirited, cast down, in the dumps, with a long face, down in the mouth, out of sorts

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. melancholyadjective

   Synonyms:
   despondent, hypochondriac, depressed, disconsolate, dispirited

2. melancholynoun

   Synonyms:
   despondency, hypochondria, dejection, disconsolation, melancholia

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "melancholy":

   melancholic

Concise Medical Dictionary, by Joseph C Segen, MDRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. melancholy

   Synonyms:
   Melancholia, major depressive disorder-recurrent [DSM-IV/dc-296.3x]
   

2. melancholy

   Synonyms:
   melan-Greek, black; chole, bile

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How to use melancholy in a sentence?

1. Arnold Bennett:

   The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one's sympathy the gloom of somebody else.

2. Charles Krauthammer:

   As [ Duke of ] Wellington said, ‘ nothing save a battle loss is quite so melancholy as a battle won. ’ We won the battle and now we have to watch the movie.

3. George Santayana:

   Nothing is really so poor and melancholy as art that is interested in itself and not in its subject.

4. Aimee Osbourne:

   It’s been a frustrating journey, a lot of trial and error. For years it felt like I was swimming in the ocean, all by Aimee Osbourne, i’ve lived through a lot of dark environments one way or another while growing up and that has influenced my songwriting. And, yes, I suppose melancholy is a running theme. [ But ] I never had to battle for my identity. I have always been me.

5. James Russell Lowell:

   They talk about their Pilgrim blood, Their birthright high and holy A mountain-stream that ends in mud Methinks is melancholy.