doleful

dole·ful

adjective \ˈdōl-fəl\

Definition of DOLEFUL

1

: causing grief or affliction <a doleful loss>

2

: full of grief : cheerless <a doleful face>

3

: expressing grief : sad <a doleful melody>

— dole·ful·ly \-fə-lē\ adverb

— dole·ful·ness noun

Examples of DOLEFUL

1. The girl had a doleful look on her face.
2. You sounded so doleful about your future that night.

First Known Use of DOLEFUL

13th century

Related to DOLEFUL

Synonyms

aching, agonized, anguished, bemoaning, bewailing, bitter, deploring, mournful, dolesome, dolorous, funeral, grieving, heartbroken, lamentable, lugubrious, plaintive, plangent, regretful, rueful, sorrowful, 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)

Rhymes with DOLEFUL

soulful