1
as in sadness
a state or spell of low spirits
with the resigned dolefulness of an athlete who knows his playing days are over, he cleared out his locker for the last time
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sorrow
deep sadness especially for the loss of someone or something loved
a period of dolefulness that seemed to last forever for the widower
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dolefulness
Noun
-
The film’s wry brand of sadness at times recalls the work of Aki Kaurismäki, although Covi and Frimmel rarely mimic the Finnish auteur’s deadpan style of humor.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Feb. 2026 -
The two gin monoliths, like so much of the visual design of the film, gave production designer Suzie Davies and her team the chance to reach the apex of a feeling — whether anger, sadness, despair, or desire.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Giving in, in this case, is drowning his sorrows in drink.—
Christina Grace Tucker,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Such trickery to assign great value to low-worth materials also underpins the surprise ending for The Girl Who Cried Pearls, which follows a poor boy falling in love with a girl overwhelmed by sorrow to the point her tears turn into pearls.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In Aidarov’s spiral, bodily imprints from hundreds of thousands of migrant workers layer upon one another, the faint depressions of exhausted sleep compressed into a monument that cannot move.—
Anel Rakhimzhanova,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
-
The 1893 silver crash and the following regional depression left the area in decline, turning it into skid row with brothels, speakeasies, pawn shops and widespread crime.—
Jessica Alvarado Gamez,
Denver Post,
1 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
With no answers, her parents’ intense grief settled into silence, and her three brothers grew up not knowing what happened to their 3-year-old sister.—
Hilary Whiteman,
CNN Money,
28 Feb. 2026
-
He was stuck deep in the recesses of shock and grief at the loss of the boy who’d labored by his side for so long, a boy who’d never harmed anyone and who had sat behind the wheel of that silver Saab from sunrise to sundown for the family.—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Putting private anguish and public witnessing into forceful tension, Paksa fashioned a productively ambivalent rubric for the artist under authoritarianism.—
Daniel R. Quiles,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
-
The discomfort of boredom, even the anguish of it, can spur us into flights of imagination, resourcefulness, and invention.—
Daniel Smith,
The Atlantic,
27 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Turner plays the middle brother with intriguing melancholy and an almost alien detachment, which works within the world this film creates, but not necessarily for a main character.—
David Opie,
IndieWire,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Fanning’s name was the first called when nominations were announced, signaling that Scandinavian melancholy would be notably absent that morning.—
Glenn Whipp,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Dolefulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dolefulness. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
