doleful

dole·ful

adj \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)

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Rhymes with DOLEFUL

soulful