melancholy

1 of 2

noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē 

plural melancholies

1

a

: depression of spirits : dejection

great outbursts of creativity alternate with feelings of extreme melancholy

—Brenda Lane Richardson

Mitchell sounds utterly alone in her melancholy, turning the sadness into tender art.

—Rolling Stone

b

: a pensive mood

a fine romantic kind of a melancholy on the fading of the year

—Richard Holmes

One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

2

a

: melancholia sense 1

b

archaic : an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression

c

archaic : black bile

melancholy

2 of 2

adjective

1

a

: suggestive or expressive of sadness or depression of mind or spirit

sang in a melancholy voice

b

: causing or tending to cause sadness or depression of mind or spirit : dismal

a melancholy thought

2

a

: depressed in spirits : dejected, sad

b

: pensive

Synonyms

Noun

• blue devils
• blues
• dejection
• depression
• desolation
• despond
• despondence
• despondency
• disconsolateness
• dispiritedness
• doldrums
• dolefulness
• downheartedness
• dreariness
• dumps
• forlornness
• gloom
• gloominess
• glumness
• heartsickness
• joylessness
• miserableness
• mopes
• mournfulness
• oppression
• sadness
• sorrowfulness
• unhappiness

Adjective

• depressing
• dismal
• drear
• dreary
• heartbreaking
• heartrending
• mournful
• pathetic
• sad
• saddening
• sorry
• tearful
• teary

Examples of melancholy in a Sentence

Noun

the bleakness of winter sometimes gives me cause for melancholy

Adjective

A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realization that you can't make old friends. —Christopher Hitchens, Harper's, June 1999

He has a snarled mop of spiky black hair, melancholy circles around his eyes, and a tiny Cupid's-bow mouth. —Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 1990

I see your mournful party in my mind's eye under every varying circumstance of the day;  … the efforts to talk, the frequent summons to melancholy orders and cares, and poor Edward, restless in misery, going from one room to the other … —Jane Austen, letter, 24 Oct. 1808

She was in a melancholy mood.

He became quiet and melancholy as the hours slowly passed.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

To say more about the plot would spoil the film too much, but Ryder is really a chameleon, flickering between quiet melancholy, genuine affection, and darker, more selfish concerns, and the rotoscoping art style accentuates the expressiveness of her face. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2024

At 78, Ferry reigns as the elder statesman of rock-star romantics, the king of elegant melancholy. —Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2024

Adjective

Most notable within Jones’ theme is the use of vibraphone when set against his orchestra’s melancholy strings. —A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 4 Nov. 2024

Only three episodes in, and Joe’s home-life pattern is already getting a bit redundant — pull up to the driveway with a melancholy mix of weariness and relief, get triggered into perceiving a phantom threat, draw a gun and almost shoot a family member. —Andy Andersen, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English malencolie, melancolie "black bile, preponderance or excess of black bile, state (as anger or sorrow) produced by excessive black bile," borrowed from Anglo-French & Late Latin; Anglo-French malencolie, melencolie, borrowed from Late Latin melancholia (Medieval Latin malencolia, by association with the prefix mal- mal-), borrowed from Greek melancholía, from melan-, athematic variant of melano- melano- + cholḗ "bile" + -ia -ia entry 1 — more at gall entry 1

Adjective

Middle English malincolie, melancolie, from attributive use of malencolie melancholy entry 1, probably reinforced by construal of -ly as an adjective suffix

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2c

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Kids Definition

melancholy

1 of 2 noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈmel-ən-ˌkäl-ē 

plural melancholies

: a sad or gloomy mood or condition

melancholy

2 of 2 adjective

1

: depressed in spirits : dejected, sad

2

: seriously thoughtful

3

: causing sadness : dismal

a melancholy thought

Etymology

Noun

Middle English malencolie "melancholy," from early French melancolie (same meaning), from Latin melancholia (same meaning), from Greek melancholia "melancholy," literally, "black bile," from melan-, melas "black" and cholē "bile"; so called from the ancient belief that the condition was caused by an excess of what was thought to be black bile in the body — related to choleric, melanin see Word History at humor

Medical Definition

melancholy

noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈmel-ən-ˌkäl-ē 

plural melancholies

1

: depression or dejection of spirits

also : melancholia

2

archaic

a

: an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression

b

: black bile

melancholy adjective