plaintiveness

noun

as in melancholy

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plaintiveness
  1. melancholy
  2. mournfulness
  3. dejection
  4. sorrow
  5. gloom
Noun
  • Beneath all the sensuality and beauty, there’s also a lingering melancholy that feels very familiar to me.
    — Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 16 June 2026
  • Don Hertzfeldt occasionally comes to mind for a similarly pervasive mood of questioning, philosophical melancholy.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 12 June 2026
Definition of melancholy
Noun
  • Power Ballad should be breezy and fun, with that twist of mournfulness that Carney is always so adept at pulling off.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 May 2026
Definition of mournfulness
Noun
  • This has been one of Norway’s great months and reaching the end of the line was as much cause for pride as dejection across the capital.
    — Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 12 July 2026
  • Four years later, there’s not a hint of complacency or dejection in France.
    — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 4 July 2026
Definition of dejection
Noun
  • The only other person in the 21st century who might’ve had as uncanny an ability to look beneath the sordidness and sorrow of red carpets and walks of fame to find truth and even poetry might be David Lynch.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 23 July 2026
  • Commenters flooded Aquino’s social media accounts with support, expressing their sorrow at the news of her death.
    — Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 22 July 2026
Definition of sorrow
Noun
  • One way out of the doom and gloom would be for Winnipeg to announce the aforementioned Hellebuyck appeasement.
    — Murat Ates, New York Times, 20 July 2026
  • That is to say, it was preceded by soothsayings of unparalleled gloom, which faded at the first kick of a ball.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026
Definition of gloom
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Plaintiveness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plaintiveness. Accessed 2 Aug. 2026.

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