sorrowful

sor·row·ful

adj \-ō-fəl, -ə-fəl\

Definition of SORROWFUL

1

: full of or marked by sorrow <a sorrowful good-bye>

2

: expressive of or inducing sorrow <sorrowful eyes>

— sor·row·ful·ly \-f(ə-)lē\ adverb

— sor·row·ful·ness \-fəl-nəs\ noun

Examples of SORROWFUL

1. <adopted a sorrowful tone of voice to read the news story about the former governor's death>
2. <the cult seemed to be a sorrowful assemblage of emotionally scarred people seeking love and redemption>

First Known Use of SORROWFUL

before 12th century

Related to SORROWFUL

Synonyms: aching, agonized, anguished, bemoaning, bewailing, bitter, deploring, doleful, dolesome, dolorous, funeral, grieving, heartbroken, lamentable, lugubrious, plaintive, plangent, regretful, rueful, mournful, sorry, wailing, weeping, woeful

Antonyms: blissful, buoyant, buoyed, cheerful, cheery, chipper, delighted, glad, gladdened, gladsome, gleeful, happy, joyful, joyous, jubilant, sunny, upbeat

Related Words: dirgelike, elegiac (also elegiacal), melancholy; dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, dispirited, downcast, downhearted, heartsick, heartsore, inconsolable, tearful; brokenhearted, careworn, crestfallen, downcast, downhearted, forlorn, gloomy, glum, low-spirited, miserable, sad, triste, unhappy, woebegone; bawling, crying, groaning, howling, keening, moaning, yammering; bleeding, suffering; black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dark, darkening, desolate, dismal, dreary, funereal, gloomy, glum, gray (also grey), joyless, low, miserable, moody, morbid, morose, pathetic, pessimistic, piteous, saturnine, somber (or sombre), sullen, wretched

Near Antonyms: delighted, exulting, glorying, happy, joyful, rejoicing, triumphant; bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery; laughing, smiling; blissful, blithe, blithesome, buoyant, jocund, jolly, joyous, lighthearted, merry, mirthful; encouraging, hopeful, optimistic; ecstatic, elated, euphoric, exhilarated, giddy, heady, rapturous, rhapsodic (also rhapsodical)

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