1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
a doleful expression on their faces as they said good-bye to the friends they had made over the summer
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2
as in sad
feeling unhappiness
the visibly doleful players, heartbroken about their loss
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of doleful
But those doleful practical consequences are all around us.
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Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review, 25 June 2024
In a doleful irony, his digital rerecording of the piece, taken at a more stately tempo and with other changes, would be the last Gould album released by Columbia before his untimely death at age 50 in 1982.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
With his bulldog build and his doleful countenance, Mr. Young amassed more than 160 film and television credits.
—Alex Williams, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023
The elderly sage was cast as a doleful penitent, making up for youthful indiscretions.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
See all Example Sentences for doleful 
Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review, 25 June 2024
In a doleful irony, his digital rerecording of the piece, taken at a more stately tempo and with other changes, would be the last Gould album released by Columbia before his untimely death at age 50 in 1982.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
With his bulldog build and his doleful countenance, Mr. Young amassed more than 160 film and television credits.
—Alex Williams, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023
The elderly sage was cast as a doleful penitent, making up for youthful indiscretions.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
See all Example Sentences for doleful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for doleful
Adjective
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Her observations as a woman once romantically involved with the two of them at the same time, confirm their masculine inability to speak their feelings out loud unless they are veiled in mournful songs.Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 28 Nov. 2024
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Very few directors working today can put across a movie like Gladiator II as convincingly, which perhaps explains why the sequel — for all its barbaric violence and the plaintive, at times stirring, discussions about justice and democracy — doesn’t have the mournful quality that the first film did.Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Concept art revealed at D23 also showed the gang of toys — such as Jessie the yodeling cowgirl (voiced by different actresses) and Rex (Wallace Shawn) — looking sad as their owner seemed more interested in a tablet, hinting at their emotional yet humorous struggles.Angel Saunders, People.com, 28 Dec. 2024
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What a pathetic way for that portion of my career to end, with a sad little slow-motion tumble in the 64th minute of a miserable 3-2 defeat by Romania.Alan Shearer, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.David Mamet, National Review, 11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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Some artists and publishers are unhappy with the way their content is being scraped freely by companies like OpenAI and Google to train their large language models — AI models trained on huge quantities of data to generate humanlike responses.Ryan Browne, CNBC, 17 Dec. 2024
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Cronin — who had to cancel some summer shows this year due to unspecified health issues — further acknowledges that there’s acrimony between he and Hall, and he’s been unhappy with some of the social media discourse blaming him for the end of the REO Speedwagon name.Gary Graff, Billboard, 16 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Dido, after her lover Aeneas deserts her, kills herself with his sword on a funeral pyre, but not before building an effigy of him to burn alongside her.Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024
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The Associated Press reported that the funeral location was not made public in advance to prevent a large crowd from gathering.Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Additionally, workers in the Bayou State are some of the most depressed in the nation, reporting a happiness index of 34.81.Therese Boudreaux | The Center Square, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 29 Dec. 2024
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When Do Da-hae (The 8 Show’s Chun Woo-hee), a seemingly demure con artist with designs on the Bok’s riches, starts to flirt with him, a struggling Gwi-ju is too depressed to care.Kayti Burt, TIME, 18 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Willow Avalon The metaphorical equivalent of a heartbroken singer-songwriter debutante ball is attacking live stages and streaming platforms in overwhelming waves.Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 29 Dec. 2024
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However, our team is heartbroken to know these new horses have been without proper food and care for so long.Marina Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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But the show still needing to spotlight Winston says it all about the state of the Browns, and all involved just need this miserable season to end.The Athletic NFL Staff, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
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An actually funny Joker movie outclassed Joaquin Phoenix’s miserable one, and the biggest theater story of the year was an audacious, bawdy farce from a crazed comic genius.Vulture Staff, Vulture, 26 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near doleful
Cite this Entry
“Doleful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/doleful. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.
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