Definition of melancholia
: a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions
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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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Although run-down, the beautiful architecture of historic buildings creates a mesmerizing melancholia.
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Basically, a Lars Kepler thriller stops only to fixate on Joona’s eyes, which distractingly transfix any number of characters who take in this tall hunk of melancholia.
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For two and a half verses, Chance bathes in his melancholia.
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Elegant melancholia isn’t enough for the National anymore.
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En route to his nervous breakdown in 1969, a sublime melancholia crept into his playing.
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Lana Del Rey is perhaps most well-known as a purveyor of melancholia, singing songs of dysfunctional love and romanticized drug use and nostalgic references to Americana.
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Yet despite the patriotic trappings, there is a foreboding, a melancholia from the first words spoken by the narrator (later lawyer), a steady, genuine Brian Levi.
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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.
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
Definition of melancholia for English Language Learners
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: a feeling of sadness and depression
Medical Dictionary
medical 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
Seen and Heard
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