1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
adopted a sorrowful tone of voice to read the news story about the former governor's death
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sad
feeling unhappiness
the cult seemed to be a sorrowful assemblage of emotionally scarred people seeking love and redemption
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sorrowful
The dissolve from a god’s eye view of a comforting, warm embrace in a bed between mother and daughter to the cold, sorrowful chill of Alex’s lonely body hits us like a wallop.
—
Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
No other actor this year delivered a line with more sorrowful force.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
The lawyer, played by Kayla Wallace, listens with the sorrowful look of a child who has burned down a Ronald McDonald house with her terminally ill brother inside.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025
Being successful in America, according to Part II, inherently means becoming the bad guy, and Francis Ford Coppola mourns that fact, abetted by arguably Pacino’s finest, most sorrowful performance as a man who sells every bit of his soul to maintain his power.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sorrowful
Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
No other actor this year delivered a line with more sorrowful force.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
The lawyer, played by Kayla Wallace, listens with the sorrowful look of a child who has burned down a Ronald McDonald house with her terminally ill brother inside.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025
Being successful in America, according to Part II, inherently means becoming the bad guy, and Francis Ford Coppola mourns that fact, abetted by arguably Pacino’s finest, most sorrowful performance as a man who sells every bit of his soul to maintain his power.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sorrowful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sorrowful
Adjective
-
Once abundant on the island, this ground-foraging dove – with an earthy red-brown plumage and a quiet, mournful call – disappeared from the wild by 1972.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
-
Several of her patients left mournful messages on the Yelp page of her Arcadia practice.—
Clara Harter
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
Too much alcohol and your dreamy dessert turns into a sad, semi-frozen slush.—
Emily Price,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
-
All three movies are packed with dinosaurs—dinosaurs running, dinosaurs being sad and winsome, dinosaurs showing ruthless disregard for human life.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
30 June 2025
Adjective
-
And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.—
David Mamet,
National Review,
11 Aug. 2022
-
The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
-
This gives the creditor an additional target to pursue and make very unhappy which can indirectly put pressure on the debtor to pay the judgment.—
Jay Adkisson,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
-
Circulation increased and the publication won two Pulitzer Prizes, but the owner, conservative Harry Guggenheim, was unhappy with the paper’s shift to the left, and he and Moyers were divided over the Vietnam War and the 1968 presidential election.—
Carmel Dagan,
Variety,
26 June 2025
Adjective
-
Raymond Cheadle, Honesty’s great-uncle, told WUSA the family, including the girl’s dad, is heartbroken.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
11 July 2025
-
Pepe has the power to make two heartbroken Islanders immediately forget about their old connections.—
Alejandra Gularte,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
Screenshot from a July 1 TikTok video of a depressed golden retriever waiting for her dog dad to return 1 1/2 years after a breakup.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 July 2025
-
The law expands opportunity zones and extends tax benefits for investing in inner cities and economically depressed rural areas.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
Maliciously or willfully disturbing a funeral, memorial service, procession or burial ceremony. Threatening, quarreling or challenging to fight someone, or fighting.—
Shaun Goodwin,
Idaho Statesman,
16 June 2025
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Visitation will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. local time at the Springhill Cemetery in Madison, Tenn., while the funeral mass will be held at St. Joseph Church.—
Rachel DeSantis,
People.com,
8 June 2025
Adjective
-
As a result, couples may find themselves in a miserable situation.—
Mark Travers,
CNBC,
29 June 2025
-
The first half of the Rockies’ 2025 season was miserable, and that’s an understatement.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
28 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sorrowful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sorrowful. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.
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