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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

melancholy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • /ˈmɛlənk(ə)lɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
  • /ˈmɛlənˌkɔlɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
  • /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ (US)
  • /ˈmɛlənkəli/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”) (from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”)), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency. Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.

Meanings

  1. (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.
    • “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. […] And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]” 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
    • Melancholy people don't talk much.
    • […] he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: […] c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
  2. Suggestive of wistfulness or subdued emotion.
    • Twice a day she took them out to feed in the marshy places, let them waddle and gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them back and shut them up in a small dark shed to digest their meal, whence they gave forth occasionally a melancholy quack. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 356:
    • It was the same old song / With a melancholy sound. 1981, Greg Kihn, Steve Wright, “The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)”, in RocKihnRoll, performed by The Greg Kihn Band:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
melancholly alternative, obsolete lexicographic
melancholie alternative, obsolete lexicographic
more melancholy Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most melancholy Degree=Sup lexicographic
melancholious alternative, obsolete lexicographic

Relateds

sadness · melancholic · melancholia

Synonyms

unlively · dull · heartsick · dreary · inconsolable · querulous · mournful · drearisome · wistful · low · unhappy · uncheery · jawfallen · spiritless · dolesome · heavy-hearted · joyless · woeful · elegious · heartsore · downcast · triste · down in the dumps · mirthless · no joke · sullen · morose · melancholic · lugubrious · spiritless · gray · glum · saddened · ruthful · solemn · depressed · dismal · chopfallen · sullen · joyless · wintry · sombre · plaintive · atrabilious · shattered · grim · drear · tristful · solemn · threnetical · atrabiliary · melancholic · cut up · doleful · dreich · forlorn · blue · lack-laughter · cheerless · melancholy · unconsolable · dejected · moody · elegiac · Plutonian · woebegone · bummed out · doleful · saturnine · dispirited · low-spirited · forlorn · down · sad · saturnine · blitheless · sorrow-ridden · down in the mouth · dire · disgruntled · threnetic · sunless · depressing · gayless · despondent · grief-stricken · damp · grieving · gloomy · sorrowsome · morose · Plutonic · chapfallen · mopey · crestfallen · lachrymose · uncheerful · dismal · infelicitous · disconsolate · woeful · gloomsome · unmerry · comfortless · disheartened · miserable · downhearted · woe · sorrowful · wretched · unhappy · lamentful · lugubrious · passionate · gloomy · cheerless · uncheerful · dark · dolesome · melancholy · downsome · uncheery · sombre · lumpish · bleak · desolate · miserable · somber · disconsolate

wikipedia: Galen · wikipedia: Hippocrates

melancholy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • /ˈmɛlənk(ə)lɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
  • /ˈmɛlənˌkɔlɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
  • /ˈmɛl.ənˌkɑ.li/ (US)
  • /ˈmɛlənkəli/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”) (from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”)), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency. Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.

Meanings

  1. (countable, historical, uncountable) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
    • Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones. , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148
  2. (countable, uncountable) Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
    • As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy. 1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance
    • My mind was troubled with deep melancholy. 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], line 34:
    • I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness. c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
    • "The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville. 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 111:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
melancholly alternative, obsolete lexicographic
melancholie alternative, obsolete lexicographic
melancholies Number=Plur lexicographic
melancholious alternative, obsolete lexicographic

Deriveds

melancholist · melancholily · unmelancholy · melancholize · melancholy thistle · solemncholy · melancholiness

Synonyms

wretchedness · crestfallenness · downheartedness · mishappiness · sorrowfulness · woe · woefare · despondency · tristfulness · prosternation · misery · misery · regret · grief · dejection · tristesse · melancholia · forlornness · depression · distress · sadness · mirthless · heartsore · ruth · melancholy · unhappiness · blueness · dolefulness · ill-being · rue · blues · mourn · sorrow · drearihead · undelight · despondency · infelicity

Translations (87)

az melanxoliya (Sadness or depression) · ko 침울 (Sadness or depression) · fi apeus (Sadness or depression) · rup milanculii (Sadness or depression) · sv vemod (Sadness or depression) · ru меланхо́лия (Sadness or depression) · sh melanhòlija (Sadness or depression) · ar سَوْدَاوِيَّة (Sadness or depression) · pt melancolia (Sadness or depression) · ja 憂鬱 (Sadness or depression) · ota وحشت (Sadness or depression) · mn ухаан балартан (Sadness or depression) · is þunglyndi (Sadness or depression) · sh melankòlija (Sadness or depression) · gd dòlasachd (Sadness or depression) · he מְלַנְכּוֹלְיָה (Sadness or depression) · nb svartsyn (Sadness or depression) · scn malancunìa (Sadness or depression) · et melanhoolia (Sadness or depression) · ota سودا (Sadness or depression) · pl melancholia (Sadness or depression) · ko 우울 (Sadness or depression) · sh меланколија (Sadness or depression) · eu malenkonia (Sadness or depression) · es flato (Sadness or depression) · gd cianalas (Sadness or depression) · es melarchía (Sadness or depression) · de Melancholie (Sadness or depression) · nl weemoed (Sadness or depression) · fa مالیخولیا (Sadness or depression) · nl melancholie (Sadness or depression) · ca malenconia (Sadness or depression) · da vemod (Sadness or depression) · nv chʼíínáí (Sadness or depression) · fr mélancolie (Sadness or depression) · gd dubhachas (Sadness or depression) · fi surumielisyys (Sadness or depression) · sv melankoli (Sadness or depression) · tr durgunluk (Sadness or depression) · sk melanchólia (Sadness or depression) · nb vemod (Sadness or depression) · eo melankolio (Sadness or depression) · de Schwermut (Sadness or depression) · gd mulad (Sadness or depression) · de Wehmut (Sadness or depression) · cmn 憂鬱 /忧郁 (Sadness or depression) · it malinconia (Sadness or depression) · tr melankoli (Sadness or depression) · sv svårmod (Sadness or depression) · arz مَنَخوليا (Sadness or depression) · gd truime (Sadness or depression) · he מָרָה שְׁחוֹרָה (Sadness or depression) · vi trầm cảm (Sadness or depression) · tg молихулиё (Sadness or depression) · la melancholia (Sadness or depression) · hu melankólia (Sadness or depression) · es engurrio (Sadness or depression) · ro tristețe (Sadness or depression) · ro melancolie (Sadness or depression) · tr hüzün (Sadness or depression) · mi rāwakiwaki (Sadness or depression) · cs melancholie (Sadness or depression) · fi melankolia (Sadness or depression) · nb tungsinn (Sadness or depression) · lt melancholija (Sadness or depression) · hy մելամաղձություն (Sadness or depression) · fa مالنخولیا (Sadness or depression) · mnc ᠠᡴᠠᠴᡠᠨ (Sadness or depression) · sl melanholija (Sadness or depression) · ja 鬱病 (Sadness or depression) · nn tunglynde (Sadness or depression) · sh меланхолија (Sadness or depression) · fi alakulo (Sadness or depression) · uk меланхолія (Sadness or depression) · be меланхолія (Sadness or depression) · bg меланхолия (Sadness or depression) · gl melancolía (Sadness or depression) · nb melankoli (Sadness or depression) · da melankoli (Sadness or depression) · el μελαγχολία (Sadness or depression) · es melancolía (Sadness or depression) · gd èislean (Sadness or depression) · mi kainatu (Sadness or depression) · wa miråcoleye (Sadness or depression) · sv tungsinne (Sadness or depression) · gd tùirse (Sadness or depression) · cmn 悲哀 (Sadness or depression)

wikipedia: Galen · wikipedia: Hippocrates