Definitions for melancholy
ˈmɛl ənˌkɒl imelan·choly

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. melancholy(noun)

   a feeling of thoughtful sadness

2. melancholy(noun)

   a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed

3. black bile, melancholy(adj)

   a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy

4. melancholy, melancholic(adj)

   characterized by or causing or expressing sadness

   "growing more melancholy every hour"; "her melancholic smile"; "we acquainted him with the melancholy truth"

5. somber, sombre, melancholy(adj)

   grave or even gloomy in character

   "solemn and mournful music"; "a suit of somber black"; "a somber mood"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. melancholy(Noun)

   Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.

2. melancholy(Noun)

   Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.

3. melancholy(Adjective)

   Affected with great sadness or depression.

Origin: From μελαγχολία, from μέλας, μελαν- + χολή. Compare the Latin atra bilis.

Webster Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Melancholy(noun)

   depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess

2. Melancholy(noun)

   great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia

3. Melancholy(noun)

   pensive maditation; serious thoughtfulness

4. Melancholy(noun)

   ill nature

5. Melancholy(adj)

   depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal

6. Melancholy(adj)

   producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event

7. Melancholy(adj)

   somewhat deranged in mind; having the jugment impaired

8. Melancholy(adj)

   favorable to meditation; somber

Origin: [OE. melancolie, F. mlancolie, L. melancholia, fr. Gr. ; me`las, me`lanos, black + gall, bile. See Malice, and 1st Gall.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Melancholy

   mel′an-kol-i, n. continued depression of spirits: dejection: a gloomy state of mind causing groundless fears: (Milt.) pensiveness.—adj. gloomy: producing grief.—n. Melanchō′lia, a form of insanity, in which there is continued depression or pain of mind.—adjs. Melanchol′ic, Melanchō′lious, affected with, or caused by, melancholy: dejected: mournful. [Through Fr.,—L.,—Gr. melancholia—melan, black, cholē, bile.]

How to pronounce melancholy?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say melancholy in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of melancholy in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of melancholy in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of melancholy in a Sentence

1. Aristotle:

   Melancholy men are of all others the most witty.

2. Charles Dickens, Bleak House:

   It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.

3. Arthur Wellesley:

   Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.

4. John Milton:

   Sweet bird, that shun the noise of folly, most musical, most melancholy!

5. George Santayana:

   Nothing is really so poor and melancholy as art that is interested in itself and not in its subject.

Images & Illustrations of melancholy

Popularity rank by frequency of use