melancholy

1 of 2

noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē 

plural melancholies

1

a

: a state of sadness : depression of spirits : dejection

Mitchell sounds utterly alone in her melancholy, turning the sadness into tender art.

—Rolling Stone

Mordecai let his hands fall, and his head sink in melancholy: for the moment he had lost hold of his hope.

—George Eliot

b

: a pensive mood

One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

The boy's soul was steeped in melancholy. … He sat long with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, meditating.

—Mark Twain

2

archaic

a

: melancholia sense 1

Ellen, especially, continued to grieve and brood, her long, moody musings broken only by fits of stormy, passionate weeping. The old Lowbridge doctor … feared permanent melancholy or worse.

—L. M. Montgomery

b

: an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression

c

: black bile

melancholy

2 of 2

adjective

1

a

: suggesting or expressing sadness or depression

sang in a melancholy voice

… his face looking … so melancholy I worried he would weep.

—Kaitlyn Greenidge

b

: causing or tending to cause sadness or depression : dismal

a melancholy thought

For some … the actual eve of a new year … can be quite a melancholy occasion as it arouses memories of close family members who are no longer with us.

—Judith Phillips

2

a

: depressed in spirits : dejected, sad

… disappointing news that had me feeling melancholy.

—Rosalind Tompkins

b

: suggestive of sad thoughtfulness : pensive

… a melancholy meditation on happiness and its delicate transience …

—Rachael Maddux

Synonyms of melancholy

Noun

• sadness
• depression
• sorrowfulness
• mournfulness

Adjective

• sad
• depressing
• mournful
• pathetic

Examples of melancholy in a Sentence

Noun

the bleakness of winter sometimes gives me cause for melancholy

Adjective

A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realization that you can't make old friends. —Christopher Hitchens, Harper's, June 1999

He has a snarled mop of spiky black hair, melancholy circles around his eyes, and a tiny Cupid's-bow mouth. —Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 1990

I see your mournful party in my mind's eye under every varying circumstance of the day;  … the efforts to talk, the frequent summons to melancholy orders and cares, and poor Edward, restless in misery, going from one room to the other … —Jane Austen, letter, 24 Oct. 1808

She was in a melancholy mood.

He became quiet and melancholy as the hours slowly passed.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Coppola and production designer Ziering will explore their creative partnership, the aesthetic and emotional storytelling that defines Coppola’s visual universe — from the suburban melancholy of Palo Alto to the luminous complexity of The Last Showgirl. —Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2025

Full of dread and melancholy, the Austrian import flips the creepy-kid script a bit by centering on two boys (Elias and Lukas Schwarz) who wonder whether their mom (Susanne Wuest), whose head is wrapped in bandages after facial surgery, is actually their mom. 38. —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 Oct. 2025

Adjective

Johnson, Evans and Pascal – and while certainly thoughtful, the film's strengths are upended by a mood-murdering melancholy. —Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025

The day of the hearing, Vande Kolk climbed into his truck and headed home, feeling melancholy. —Jamie Thompson, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English malencolie, melancolie "black bile, preponderance or excess of black bile, state (as anger or sorrow) produced by excessive black bile," borrowed from Anglo-French & Late Latin; Anglo-French malencolie, melencolie, borrowed from Late Latin melancholia (Medieval Latin malencolia, by association with the prefix mal- mal-), borrowed from Greek melancholía, from melan-, athematic variant of melano- melano- + cholḗ "bile" + -ia -ia entry 1 — more at gall entry 1

Adjective

Middle English malincolie, melancolie, from attributive use of malencolie melancholy entry 1, probably reinforced by construal of -ly as an adjective suffix

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2c

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Rhymes for melancholy

• duopoly
• pulmonale
• triticale
• akali
• bengali
• diwali
• loblolly
• naphtali
• nepali
• secale
• somali
• colley

Kids Definition

melancholy

1 of 2 noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈmel-ən-ˌkäl-ē 

plural melancholies

: a sad or gloomy mood or condition

melancholy

2 of 2 adjective

1

: depressed in spirits : dejected, sad

2

: seriously thoughtful

3

: causing sadness : dismal

a melancholy thought

Etymology

Noun

Middle English malencolie "melancholy," from early French melancolie (same meaning), from Latin melancholia (same meaning), from Greek melancholia "melancholy," literally, "black bile," from melan-, melas "black" and cholē "bile"; so called from the ancient belief that the condition was caused by an excess of what was thought to be black bile in the body — related to choleric, melanin see Word History at humor

Medical Definition

melancholy

noun

mel·​an·​choly ˈmel-ən-ˌkäl-ē 

plural melancholies

1

: depression or dejection of spirits

also : melancholia

2

archaic

a

: an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression

b

: black bile

melancholy adjective