Synonyms of melancholy

melancholy 1 of 2

adjective

1

as in sad

causing unhappiness

the melancholy thought of having to say good-bye to all the friends he had made over the summer

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sad
• depressing
• mournful
• pathetic
• unfortunate
• tearful
• heartbreaking
• disturbing
• saddening
• dreary
• drear
• dismal
• teary
• sorry
• heartrending
• distressful
• lamentable
• disquieting
• distressing
• deplorable
• poignant
• woeful
• grievous
• moving
• perturbing
• discomforting
• touching
• affecting
• discouraging
• dispiriting
• disheartening
• discomposing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• happy
• cheery
• glad
• uplifting
• inspiring
• pleasant
• stimulating
• stirring
• delightful
• agreeable
• heartening
• enjoyable
• satisfying
• welcome
• pleasurable
• pleasing
• cheering
• heartwarming
• exhilarating
• thrilling

2

as in depressed

feeling unhappiness

they were a bit melancholy after their youngest child left for college

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

3

as in thoughtful

given to or marked by long, quiet thinking

a melancholy period in the artist's life that is reflected in his work

Synonyms & Similar Words

• thoughtful
• reflective
• somber
• pensive
• philosophical
• contemplative
• ruminative
• meditative
• solemn
• broody
• musing
• cogitative
• serious
• ruminant
• logical
• introspective
• retrospective
• rational
• earnest
• preoccupied
• analytic
• sober
• sedate
• deliberate
• self-reflective
• severe
• grave
• serious-minded
• purposeful
• abstracted
• weighty
• absentminded

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unreflective
• frivolous
• flippant
• goofy
• scatterbrained
• thoughtless
• silly
• flighty
• unthinking
• harebrained
• mindless
• light-headed
• featherbrained
• brainless

melancholy

2 of 2

noun

ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē 

as in sadness

a state or spell of low spirits

the bleakness of winter sometimes gives me cause for melancholy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sadness
• depression
• sorrowfulness
• mournfulness
• sorrow
• gloom
• grief
• anguish
• dejection
• gloominess
• blues
• unhappiness
• misery
• oppression
• glumness
• despair
• heartsickness
• dreariness
• desperation
• joylessness
• forlornness
• agony
• mourning
• despondence
• despondency
• dumps
• pain
• miserableness
• melancholia
• desolation
• mopes
• despond
• boredom
• downheartedness
• blue devils
• distress
• doldrums
• regret
• somberness
• disconsolateness
• self-pity
• dispiritedness
• dolefulness
• hopelessness
• discouragement
• woe
• wretchedness
• dolor
• ennui
• moroseness
• morbidness
• moodiness
• disheartenment
• drear
• tedium
• woefulness
• rue
• self-despair
• dismalness
• morosity

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• joy
• happiness
• exultation
• exuberance
• joyousness
• elation
• ecstasy
• euphoria
• intoxication
• bliss
• rapture
• jubilation
• gladness
• joyfulness
• exhilaration
• mirth
• felicity
• heaven
• gaiety
• glee
• merriment
• humor
• jollity
• optimism
• joviality
• lightheartedness
• cheerfulness
• hopefulness
• blissfulness
• gayness
• cheeriness
• satisfaction
• mirthfulness
• contentment
• cheer
• gleefulness
• elatedness
• rapturousness
• content
• gladsomeness
• sunniness
• contentedness
• delight
• gratification

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of melancholy

Adjective

Not necessarily the technical side of blues music, but its emotional palette—the melancholy, vulnerability, and depth that live within those shades of blue. — Desjah Altvater, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026

Daeron Targaryen Daeron Targaryen, otherwise known as Daeron the Drunkard, is a bookish and melancholy Targaryen prince known for his prophetic dreams. — Skyler Trepel, PEOPLE, 22 June 2026

Noun

The specific kind of melancholy that only exists between Halloween and the first real snow. — Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 29 Apr. 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