English Explanatory Dictionary

melancholy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
  2. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
adj
  1. Affected with great sadness or depression.
  2. Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion.

Pronunciation

/ˈmɛlənkəli/ /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ En-us-melancholy.ogg

Word forms

melancholy melancholies melancholly melancholie melancholious more melancholy most melancholy

Etymology

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”) (from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”)), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency. Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.

Synonyms

despondency misery blueness tristesse mirthless blues crestfallenness dejection depression distress dolefulness downheartedness drearihead forlornness grief heartsore ill-being infelicity melancholia melancholy mishappiness mourn prosternation regret rue ruth sadness sorrow sorrowfulness tristfulness undelight unhappiness woe woefare wretchedness melancholic atrabiliary atrabilious blitheless dispirited blue bummed out chapfallen cheerless chopfallen crestfallen cut up damp dejected depressed despondent disgruntled disconsolate disheartened dismal doleful dolesome down down in the dumps down in the mouth

Related words

melancholic sadness melancholia

Derived words

melancholily melancholiness melancholist melancholize melancholy thistle solemncholy unmelancholy
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