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Definition of melancholia
: a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions
From the M-W Editors
melancholia was our Word of the Day on 01/21/2014. Hear the podcast!
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Recent Examples of melancholia from the Web
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Conan Doyle’s coup de maître, as Watson might say, is to make his hero a flawed man, prone to deep melancholia, liable to escape into cocaine- or opium-induced oblivion.
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Like others suffering from both Trump and cable news melancholia, my spouse is bingeing on The West Wing via Netflix.
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Like others suffering from both Trump and cable news melancholia, my spouse is bingeing on The West Wing via Netflix.
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Such moods as alienation and melancholia have no place in his films.
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Acedia, the theological version of melancholia, was the medieval view that exhaustion was considered sinful.
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This long piece (naturally written in Italian Film Scholarese, and translated into English) is saturated with a useful and probably accurate European melancholia about the subject of trying to save a medium that is under permanent flux.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'melancholia'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Melancholia traces back to Greek melan _ ("black, dark") and _cholē ("bile"). Medical practitioners once adhered to the system of humors-bodily fluids that included black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. An imbalance of these humors was thought to lead to disorders of the mind and body. One suffering from an excess of black bile (believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen) could become sullen and unsociable-liable to anger, irritability, brooding, and depression. Today, doctors no longer ascribe physical and mental disorders to disruptions of the four humors, but the word melancholia is still used in psychiatry (it is identified a "subtype" of clinical depression in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and as a general term for despondency.
Origin and Etymology of melancholia
New Latin, from Late Latin, melancholy
MELANCHOLIA Defined for English Language Learners
melancholia
playDefinition of melancholia for English Language Learners
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: a feeling of sadness and depression
Medical Dictionary
melancholia
playMedical Definition of melancholia
: a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, psychomotor agitation, and often hallucinations and delusions
Learn More about melancholia
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Nglish: Translation of melancholia for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about melancholia
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