1
: expressing sorrow : sorrowful
2
: full of sorrow : sad
3
: causing sorrow or melancholy : gloomy
mournfulness
noun
Synonyms
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
In the end, Higdon returns to a game of hide-and-seek that’s both playful and mournful, with strings that sag like willows and a low mist of returning/departing chimes.
—
Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 1 July 2024
The lamps burned a mournful electric yellow above the drifting crowd and the girls of the line cribs called out in brash and intricate detail the index of their arrangements.
—John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
These final Sublime with Rome shows will not be mournful.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 Apr. 2024
Launched with expectations of unleashing a tidal wave of liberation that would transform the Middle East, Operation Iraqi Freedom instead produced a mournful legacy of death and destruction that destabilized the region.
—Andrew J. Bacevich, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023
See all Example Sentences for mournful 
Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 1 July 2024
The lamps burned a mournful electric yellow above the drifting crowd and the girls of the line cribs called out in brash and intricate detail the index of their arrangements.
—John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
These final Sublime with Rome shows will not be mournful.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 Apr. 2024
Launched with expectations of unleashing a tidal wave of liberation that would transform the Middle East, Operation Iraqi Freedom instead produced a mournful legacy of death and destruction that destabilized the region.
—Andrew J. Bacevich, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023
See all Example Sentences for mournful
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mournful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near mournful
Cite this Entry
“Mournful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mournful. Accessed 27 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mournful
adjective
mourn·ful
ˈmō(ə)rn-fəl 
ˈmȯ(ə)rn-
1
: expressing or full of sorrow : sorrowful
a mournful face
2
: causing sorrow
a mournful story
mournfulness
noun
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