sorrowful

sor·row·ful

adjective \-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)