Dolefulness Definition & Meaning

Examples of doleful in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web With his raspy delivery, grizzled hair and doleful face, Hall excelled as government and military officials with urgent agendas as well as Hollywood and business executives with ulterior motives. — Adam Bernstein, BostonGlobe.com, 13 June 2022 With his raspy delivery, grizzled hair and doleful face, Mr. Hall excelled as government and military officials with urgent agendas as well as Hollywood and business executives with ulterior motives. — Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 13 June 2022 In a career spanning half a century, Hall was a ubiquitous hangdog face whose doleful, weary appearance could shroud a booming intensity and humble sensitivity. — Jake Coyle, Chicago Tribune, 13 June 2022 Quixotic is a mild term for the compulsions that grip these people, and their adventures are more harrowing than anything Cervantes’s knight of the doleful countenance ever experienced. — A. O. Scott, The Atlantic, 17 May 2022 Her passionate and doleful appeal was one of many made in the last few days by Ukrainian athletes after their races had ended, a far cry from their normal upbeat and buoyant mood after victory. — New York Times, 7 Mar. 2022 Freezing winter in a place designed for frolicsome summer can be a doleful time. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 11 Feb. 2022 McKay cast his doleful satire of climate change denial and MAGA belligerence with seemingly half the available members of the Screen Actors Guild. — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 8 Feb. 2022 No one looks like him, with his thick pompadour, sensuous, downturned lips and doleful eyes. — David Marchesephoto Illustration By Bráulio Amado, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'doleful.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.