Synonyms of doleful

doleful

adjective

ˈdōl-fəl 

1

as in mournful

expressing or suggesting mourning

a doleful expression on their faces as they said good-bye to the friends they had made over the summer

Synonyms & Similar Words

• mournful
• weeping
• funeral
• heartbroken
• bitter
• wailing
• grieving
• melancholy
• sorrowful
• sad
• lugubrious
• anguished
• plaintive
• lamentable
• dolorous
• agonized
• tearful
• unhappy
• rueful
• aching
• somber
• regretful
• sorry
• woeful
• plangent
• depressed
• funereal
• crying
• bleak
• morbid
• dark
• bewailing
• dolesome
• deploring
• elegiac
• bemoaning
• pathetic
• gloomy
• miserable
• disconsolate
• downcast
• dejected
• woebegone
• dispirited
• keening
• forlorn
• moody
• glum
• despondent
• inconsolable
• heartsick
• darkening
• desolate
• careworn
• crestfallen
• piteous
• groaning
• cheerless
• bleeding
• morose
• sullen
• brokenhearted
• gray
• moaning
• howling
• dismal
• downhearted
• pessimistic
• wretched
• dreary
• black
• joyless
• low-spirited
• dirgelike
• suffering
• saturnine
• heartsore
• low
• comfortless
• triste
• bawling
• yammering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joyful
• triumphant
• happy
• cheerful
• cheery
• bright
• delighted
• smiling
• joyous
• laughing
• merry
• jolly
• rejoicing
• mirthful
• exulting
• buoyant
• blissful
• optimistic
• lighthearted
• blithe
• hopeful
• glorying
• encouraging
• cheering
• jocund
• rapturous
• ecstatic
• blithesome
• rhapsodic
• giddy
• euphoric
• heady
• elated
• exhilarated

2

as in sad

feeling unhappiness

the visibly doleful players, heartbroken about their loss

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sad
• unhappy
• depressed
• heartbroken
• miserable
• melancholy
• mournful
• bad
• sorrowful
• sorry
• upset
• worried
• gloomy
• woebegone
• melancholic
• uneasy
• forlorn
• glum
• hopeless
• disconsolate
• downcast
• dejected
• disappointed
• joyless
• troubled
• woeful
• wretched
• hangdog
• despondent
• crestfallen
• inconsolable
• heartsick
• blue
• depressing
• droopy
• brokenhearted
• saddened
• distressed
• suicidal
• down
• low-spirited
• downhearted
• heavyhearted
• low
• down in the mouth
• heartsore
• despairing
• discouraged
• tearful
• aggrieved
• somber
• cast down
• lugubrious
• unquiet
• plaintive
• dolorous
• sunk
• bleak
• dispirited
• grieving
• weeping
• anguished
• morbid
• desolate
• lachrymose
• regretful
• rueful
• cheerless
• agonized
• disheartened
• morose
• wailing
• sullen
• elegiac
• dismal
• dreary
• dark
• gray
• funereal
• saturnine
• drear
• comfortless
• darkening
• black
• murky

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joyous
• cheerful
• joyful
• cheery
• happy
• jubilant
• gleeful
• upbeat
• buoyant
• blissful
• exuberant
• exultant
• glad
• sunny
• merry
• rapturous
• ecstatic
• jovial
• jolly
• mirthful
• rhapsodic
• buoyed
• euphoric
• delighted
• chipper
• jocular
• enraptured
• optimistic
• blithe
• jocose
• hopeful
• rosy
• excited
• gladsome
• sanguine
• jocund
• spirited
• blithesome
• gladdened
• energetic
• elated
• lively
• overjoyed
• exhilarated
• vital
• vivacious
• sprightly
• jaunty
• lightsome
• perky
• smiling
• entranced
• animated
• content
• frisky
• peppy
• satisfied
• bouncing
• laughing
• springy
• encouraged
• pleased
• careless
• unconcerned
• lighthearted
• grinning
• thrilled
• gratified
• zippy
• carefree
• easygoing
• insouciant
• cavalier
• heartened
• boon
• sprightful
• beaming
• happy-go-lucky
• devil-may-care

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of doleful

The Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari does something similar with the new movie Blue Heron, a semi-autobiographical piece whose structure loops in on itself, melding fact and fiction into a doleful portrait of a family tragedy. — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026

Black Hills bucket-listing aside, time here is best spent tubing and fishing on the river, luxuriating in the infrared sauna, or listening to a doleful coyote song under a blanket of stars. — Ashlea Halpern, Time, 12 Mar. 2026

His doleful father, portrayed by Paul Dooley in a magically right match of performer and material, despairs for his blithely romantic son’s future. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2025

Her Night Moves may have been a thriller, though its focus was less the act of environmental sabotage that its characters carried out than its doleful aftermath. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 13 May 2025