melancholy

noun mel·an·choly \ ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē \

|Updated on: 4 Jul 2018

Examples: melancholy in a Sentence

plural melancholies

1 a : an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression

b : black bile

c : melancholia

2 a : depression of spirits : dejection

great outbursts of creativity alternate with feelings of extreme melancholy
—Brenda Lane Richardson

b : a pensive mood

a fine romantic kind of a melancholy on the fading of the year
—Richard Holmes

See melancholy defined for English-language learners

See melancholy defined for kids

Examples of melancholy in a Sentence

the bleakness of winter sometimes gives me cause for melancholy

Recent Examples of melancholy from the Web

What makes the piece so striking is the grandeur, and the huge melancholy of it.

— jesse hamlin, San Francisco Chronicle, "SF Symphony brings ‘Boris Godunov’ to concert stage," 12 June 2018
But there are fates worse than death, as Oleg could tell you, and lives that can be happy here and there but are still lived with that hint of melancholy of what once was but is no longer, as everybody on the show could tell you.

— todd vanderwerff, Vox, "The Americans finale proved there are TV fates worse than death," 2 June 2018
As evidenced by recent countrywide protests over guns and gender rights, the country may have awoken from its apathy, but America will always have reserves of solipsistic melancholy.

— New York Times, "That Feeling When You Miss the Early 2000s," 8 May 2018
That shift has muted the music’s rhythmic attack and timbre, but the process has also imbued it with a new deep melancholy.

— peter margasak, Chicago Reader, "A Hawk and a Hacksaw embrace a darker, muted sound on their first new album in five years," 17 May 2018
Ultimately tinged with the melancholy of passing time— evanescence is written into the nature of pop music— Leto is bursting with great music and an intelligent awareness of how the same songs have very different meanings in different cultures.

— john powers, Vogue, "At Cannes, Women Claim the Headlines," 14 May 2018
Gorgeous images of the Dakota landscape are suffused with melancholy as Brady quietly ponders his few options, beyond low-level employment at the local supermarket.

— walter addiego, Houston Chronicle, "Film review: ‘Rider’ an elegiac portrait of a cowboy," 26 Apr. 2018
In moments such as the orchestral introduction to the second movement, what can seem like Byronic melancholy had a much more current sense of conviction.

— david patrick stearns, Philly.com, "Daniil Trifonov records Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra: Prepare to be dazzled," 13 Apr. 2018
Scaglione was a sympathetic partner to Ioniţă’s interpretation, buoying the cellist’s light, quick passagework and underscoring the melancholy of the slower sections of the concerto.

— christian hertzog, sandiegouniontribune.com, "A game of musical chairs and an impressive debut: Scaglione stellar with the San Diego Symphony," 7 Apr. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of melancholy

Middle English malencolie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek, from melan- + cholē bile — more at gall

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

melancholy Synonyms

Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

melancholy

adjective mel·an·choly \ ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē \

1 a : suggestive or expressive of sadness or depression of mind or spirit

sang in a melancholy voice

b : causing or tending to cause sadness or depression of mind or spirit : dismal

a melancholy thought

2 a : depressed in spirits : dejected, sad

b : pensive

See melancholy defined for English-language learners

Examples of melancholy in a Sentence

A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realization that you can't make old friends. —Christopher Hitchens, Harper's, June 1999
He has a snarled mop of spiky black hair, melancholy circles around his eyes, and a tiny Cupid's-bow mouth. —Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 1990
I see your mournful party in my mind's eye under every varying circumstance of the day; … the efforts to talk, the frequent summons to melancholy orders and cares, and poor Edward, restless in misery, going from one room to the other … —Jane Austen, letter, 24 Oct. 1808
She was in a melancholy mood.
He became quiet and melancholy as the hours slowly passed.