English Explanatory Dictionary

sorrow

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. unhappiness, woe
  2. (usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness.
verb
  1. To feel or express grief.
  2. To feel grief over; to mourn, regret.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

sŏrʼō /ˈsɒɹəʊ/ /ˈsɑɹoʊ/ en-us-sorrow.ogg /ˈsɔɹoʊ/ /ˈsɔɾo/ /ˈsɔɾou/

Word forms

sorrow sorrows sorrowe sorrowing sorrowed

Etymology

From Middle English sorwe, sorow, sorewe, from Old English sorg, sorh (“care, anxiety, sorrow, grief”), from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surgō (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit सूर्क्षति (sū́rkṣati, “worry”). Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not historically related to sorry and sore.

Synonyms

dejection blueness tristesse mirthless blues crestfallenness depression despondency distress dolefulness downheartedness drearihead forlornness grief heartsore ill-being infelicity melancholia melancholy misery mishappiness mourn prosternation regret rue ruth sadness sorrow sorrowfulness tristfulness undelight unhappiness woe woefare wretchedness misfortune adversity apocalypse calamity catastrophe disaster qualm affliction aggrievance grievance hardship vexation wrong grieve aggrieve besorrow condole darken engrieve erme gloom grieven bleed lament moan

Derived words

a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved China's Sorrow drown one's sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows seeksorrow shared sorrow is half sorrow sorrowful sorrowfully sorrowfulness sorrowless sorrowly sorrow-ridden sorrowsome sorrowy tree of sorrow besorrow oversorrow sorrower sorrowingly unsorrowing
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