Synonyms of sorrowful

sorrowful

adjective

ˈsär-(ˌ)ō-fəl 

1

as in mournful

expressing or suggesting mourning

adopted a sorrowful tone of voice to read the news story about the former governor's death

Synonyms & Similar Words

• mournful
• weeping
• heartbroken
• funeral
• bitter
• grieving
• sad
• melancholy
• wailing
• anguished
• doleful
• tearful
• regretful
• unhappy
• lamentable
• aching
• dolorous
• sorry
• plaintive
• lugubrious
• agonized
• somber
• rueful
• depressed
• woeful
• crying
• plangent
• funereal
• dark
• morbid
• bleak
• bewailing
• elegiac
• deploring
• dolesome
• bemoaning
• pathetic
• downcast
• miserable
• dejected
• disconsolate
• dispirited
• heartsick
• inconsolable
• gloomy
• despondent
• moody
• desolate
• forlorn
• keening
• woebegone
• darkening
• glum
• crestfallen
• careworn
• sombre
• brokenhearted
• piteous
• bleeding
• morose
• elegiacal
• groaning
• downhearted
• cheerless
• suffering
• sullen
• moaning
• gray
• grey
• black
• pessimistic
• low-spirited
• wretched
• heartsore
• howling
• dismal
• joyless
• dirgelike
• comfortless
• dreary
• triste
• low
• saturnine
• bawling
• yammering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joyful
• happy
• triumphant
• cheerful
• delighted
• bright
• cheery
• smiling
• joyous
• laughing
• rejoicing
• merry
• exulting
• blissful
• jolly
• mirthful
• optimistic
• buoyant
• lighthearted
• hopeful
• blithe
• glorying
• encouraging
• cheering
• ecstatic
• rapturous
• euphoric
• jocund
• blithesome
• giddy
• rhapsodic
• heady
• rhapsodical
• elated
• exhilarated

2

as in sad

feeling unhappiness

the cult seemed to be a sorrowful assemblage of emotionally scarred people seeking love and redemption

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sad
• unhappy
• heartbroken
• depressed
• miserable
• melancholy
• sorry
• bad
• mournful
• upset
• worried
• doleful
• melancholic
• uneasy
• disappointed
• gloomy
• downcast
• troubled
• hopeless
• dejected
• disconsolate
• forlorn
• woebegone
• inconsolable
• heartsick
• despondent
• joyless
• saddened
• glum
• crestfallen
• wretched
• woeful
• brokenhearted
• depressing
• distressed
• blue
• hangdog
• suicidal
• droopy
• heavyhearted
• low-spirited
• downhearted
• down
• heartsore
• tearful
• discouraged
• low
• despairing
• down in the mouth
• grieving
• aggrieved
• somber
• cast down
• weeping
• unquiet
• dispirited
• sunk
• regretful
• bleak
• dolorous
• plaintive
• anguished
• lugubrious
• desolate
• morbid
• disheartened
• sombre
• lachrymose
• rueful
• morose
• agonized
• elegiac
• cheerless
• wailing
• sullen
• dark
• grey
• dismal
• gray
• dreary
• comfortless
• funereal
• drear
• saturnine
• black
• darkening
• murky
• elegiacal

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joyful
• joyous
• cheerful
• happy
• jubilant
• glad
• blissful
• cheery
• upbeat
• buoyant
• gleeful
• ecstatic
• exuberant
• sunny
• exultant
• merry
• rapturous
• euphoric
• delighted
• jovial
• buoyed
• jolly
• rhapsodic
• mirthful
• enraptured
• optimistic
• chipper
• hopeful
• jocular
• blithe
• excited
• jocund
• jocose
• rosy
• gladsome
• sanguine
• rhapsodical
• gladdened
• elated
• overjoyed
• spirited
• exhilarated
• energetic
• blithesome
• lively
• vital
• vivacious
• lightsome
• smiling
• content
• entranced
• satisfied
• animated
• perky
• sprightly
• laughing
• jaunty
• frisky
• encouraged
• peppy
• pleased
• springy
• bouncing
• careless
• thrilled
• gratified
• carefree
• lighthearted
• unconcerned
• zippy
• grinning
• easygoing
• cavalier
• heartened
• beaming
• insouciant
• boon
• sprightful
• happy-go-lucky
• devil-may-care

Examples of sorrowful in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Grau’s sedate camerawork has a contrasting calming effect, suggesting peace for Martha and sorrowful acceptance for Ingrid. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Sep. 2024

Something sorrowful, something almost human, passed through his eyes. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2024

Lila and Alison say two very different and equally sorrowful goodbyes to their children in back-to-back scenes buoyed by Raver-Lampman and Arya. —Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 9 Aug. 2024

Touch is also about all that Kristofer doesn’t know about Miko and her father, circumstances that aren’t so much conventional secrets as bits of sorrowful history embedded in DNA. —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 12 July 2024