melancholy
UK /ˈmɛlənkəli/ · US /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ noun, adjective
Forms melancholies melancholly melancholie melancholious
- noun (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
- noun Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
- adjective (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression. “Melancholy people don't talk much.”
- adjective Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion.
Synonyms
despondency misery blueness tristesse mirthless blues crestfallenness dejection depression distress dolefulness downheartedness drearihead forlornness grief heartsore ill-being infelicity melancholia mishappiness black bile melancholic somber sombre
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess. Shak.
- noun Great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia.
- adjective Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal. Shak.
- adjective Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event.
Etymology [OE. melancolie, F. mélancolie, L. melancholia, fr. Gr. Malice, and 1st Gall.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “melancholy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details