1
: expressing sorrow : sorrowful
2
: full of sorrow : sad
3
: causing sorrow or melancholy : gloomy
mournfulness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of mournful in a Sentence
she had such a mournful expression that someone teasingly asked if her dog had died
the mournful survivors of the disaster were faced with the grim task of burying the dead
Recent Examples on the Web
Then the mournful hits keep coming, as pointed segues.
—
Chris Willman, Variety, 7 Apr. 2024
Arthur is too lost in his mournful reveries, his futile longing for Beniamina, to care much about the consequences.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024
The sites are angry and mournful: their invocations of peace, justice, and freedom are not banal.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
The exhilarating recap of the Voice’s ascendancy — the story of the Village newspaper that could — takes a mournful turn as witnesses of the wreckage offer their differing autopsies of a storied alternative weekly’s destruction.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Her magically vibrant and simultaneously mournful and vulnerable painting expresses the dualism at the heart of her vision — and perhaps at the heart of existence itself.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2024
None of them, though, seem likely to eclipse its current mournful status.
—Longreads, 26 Jan. 2024
The music never gets very loud or very soft, fast, or high: The mood is politely mournful, the pace a frequently funereal trudge.
—An Epic Set, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2024
There was something that came across in the yearning and the mournful feeling that imbues a lot of Brian Wilson’s music.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2024
Chris Willman, Variety, 7 Apr. 2024
Arthur is too lost in his mournful reveries, his futile longing for Beniamina, to care much about the consequences.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024
The sites are angry and mournful: their invocations of peace, justice, and freedom are not banal.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
The exhilarating recap of the Voice’s ascendancy — the story of the Village newspaper that could — takes a mournful turn as witnesses of the wreckage offer their differing autopsies of a storied alternative weekly’s destruction.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Her magically vibrant and simultaneously mournful and vulnerable painting expresses the dualism at the heart of her vision — and perhaps at the heart of existence itself.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2024
None of them, though, seem likely to eclipse its current mournful status.
—Longreads, 26 Jan. 2024
The music never gets very loud or very soft, fast, or high: The mood is politely mournful, the pace a frequently funereal trudge.
—An Epic Set, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2024
There was something that came across in the yearning and the mournful feeling that imbues a lot of Brian Wilson’s music.
—Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mournful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near mournful
Cite this Entry
“Mournful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mournful. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mournful
adjective
mourn·ful
ˈmō(ə)rn-fəl 
ˈmȯ(ə)rn-
1
: expressing or full of sorrow : sorrowful
a mournful face
2
: causing sorrow
a mournful story
mournfulness
noun
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