mournful

adjective

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mourn·ful | \ ˈmȯrn-fəl

Definition of mournful

1 : expressing sorrow : sorrowful

2 : full of sorrow : sad

3 : causing sorrow or melancholy : gloomy

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Examples of mournful in a Sentence

she had such a mournful expression that someone teasingly asked if her dog had died the mournful survivors of the disaster were faced with the grim task of burying the dead

Recent Examples on the Web There’s something mournful about this tale, but Bradbury’s explosive imagination tempers the darkness. — Washington Post, 25 May 2021 People who were stuck at home, watching the mournful COVID number climb. — BostonGlobe.com, 22 May 2021 To complain and feel mournful about so expensive and time-consuming an activity? — Connie Wang, refinery29.com, 18 May 2021 Back then, the bird’s mournful, croaking call was widespread on the continent. — Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 May 2021 From sea to shining sea, Americans of all ages and skill levels performed the mournful bugle call in unison. — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 28 May 2021 Parishioners of the historic Vernon AME Church, one of the only structures to partly survive the massacre in Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood in 1921, trickled out after the morning service into a scene that was more festive than mournful. — NBC News, 27 May 2021 This weekend marked the most significant transition closer to normal life yet after mournful months of severed social contact and the deaths of nearly 600,000 citizens from Covid-19. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 17 May 2021 With its mournful verses and anthemic chorus, the pop ballad is an ode to perseverance in the face of structural obstacles and discrimination. — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2021

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