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

And viewers’ mileage will certainly vary with this peculiar, fun little concoction on seclusion, connection and the need to belong that can’t hide its undercurrent of melancholy about the sorry state of a divided world. — Tomris Laffly, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026

Roderick In Poe’s famous short story The Fall of the House of Usher, Roderick Usher is a melancholy recluse who believes his haunted mansion is the cause of his deteriorating health. — Anna Earl, Parents, 5 Sep. 2026

Noun

Lines that seem artlessly off-the-cuff on first pass accrue an unexpected weight and purpose the fourth time through; the countrified guitar lick that sounds so chipper at the start of a song is dripping with melancholy by the end. — Stuart Berman, Pitchfork, 4 June 2026

Early Years Eichenberg recounted his childhood with some melancholy. — Jessica George, JSTOR Daily, 27 May 2026