Melancholy
['melənkəlɪ] or ['mɛlənkɑli]
Definition
(noun.) a feeling of thoughtful sadness.
(noun.) a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed.
(adj.) characterized by or causing or expressing sadness; 'growing more melancholy every hour'; 'her melancholic smile'; 'we acquainted him with the melancholy truth' .
Edited by Gail--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess.
(n.) Great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia.
(n.) Pensive maditation; serious thoughtfulness.
(n.) Ill nature.
(a.) Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal.
(a.) Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event.
(a.) Somewhat deranged in mind; having the jugment impaired.
(a.) Favorable to meditation; somber.
Inputed by Jenny
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Dejection, depression, gloominess, sadness, gloom, despondency, hypochondria, blues, blue devils, dumps, megrims, vapors, low spirits, depression of spirits.
a. 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.
Edited by Diana
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See MELANCHOLY]
SYN:Gloomy, sad, dejected, disconsolate, dismal, moody, hypochondriacal, cast_down
ANT:Lively, sprightly, gladsome, gleesome, blithesome, happy, cheerful, gamesome,mirthful, merry
Editor: Trudy
Definition
n. continued depression of spirits: dejection: a gloomy state of mind causing groundless fears: (Milt.) pensiveness.—adj. gloomy: producing grief.—n. Melanchō′lia a form of insanity in which there is continued depression or pain of mind.—adjs. Melanchol′ic Melanchō′lious affected with or caused by melancholy: dejected: mournful.
Checked by Clifton
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream that you feel melancholy over any event, is a sign of disappointment in what was thought to be favorable undertakings. To dream that you see others melancholy, denotes unpleasant interruption in affairs. To lovers, it brings separation.
Edited by Clare
Examples
- His walk was soft; his voice was melancholy; his long lanky fingers were hooked like claws. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- No, indeed, sir,' returned Mrs. Sparsit, with a gentle melancholy upon her. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- I rose early, but felt unusually melancholy. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Her cordial look, when she put out her hand to him, softened his expression, but only with melancholy. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- There is something melancholy in it, and I don't know why. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- This idea increased my melancholy, for I hate, and always did hate, anything like London in miniature. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The corners of the Sergeant's melancholy mouth curled up, and he looked hard in my face, just as he had looked in the garden. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Then he gave me such a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half melancholy. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Fat or thin, laughing or melancholy, on horseback or the music-stool, it was all the same to the Major. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- A long sigh floated past them on the still waters, like the melancholy cry of a bird, and died away sadly in the distance. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- It is a melancholy consideration. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Little did my poor aunt imagine what a gush of devout thankfulness thrilled through me as she approached the close of her melancholy story. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You say yourself there is nothing to be done there: everybody is so clean and well off, it makes you quite melancholy. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- If you please, Lady Jane, you will write a letter to Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, requesting her presence upon this melancholy occasion. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Can you not give me some understandable reason for this melancholy which renders your life so bitter? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
Edited by Beverly