Lexic.us

Definition of Melancholy

1. Adjective. Characterized by or causing or expressing sadness. "We acquainted him with the melancholy truth"

2. Noun. A feeling of thoughtful sadness.

3. Adjective. Grave or even gloomy in character. "A somber mood"

4. Noun. A constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed.

5. Noun. A humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy.

Definition of Melancholy

1. n. Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess.

2. a. Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal.

Definition of Melancholy

1. Adjective. Affected with great sadness or depression. ¹

2. Noun. (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies. ¹

3. Noun. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Melancholy

1. [n -LIES]

Medical Definition of Melancholy

1. 1. Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal. 2. Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event. 3. Somewhat deranged in mind; having the jugment impaired. 4. Favorable to meditation; somber. "A pretty, melancholy seat, well wooded and watered." (Evelin) Synonym: Gloomy, sad, dispirited, low-spirited, downhearted, unhappy, hypochondriac, disconsolate, heavy, doleful, dismal, calamitous, afflictive. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Melancholy

melancholic melancholically melancholick melancholicks melancholics melancholies melancholily melancholiness melancholious melancholist

melancholists melancholize melancholized melancholizes melancholizing melancholy (current term) melancholy thistle melanedema melanemia melanesia

melange melanges melangians melanian melanians melanic melanics melanidrosis melaniferous melaniline

Literary usage of Melancholy

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. As You Like it by William Shakespeare (1907)
"THE melancholy JAQUES The melancholy Jaques grieves at that ; And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you. ..."

2. The Harvard Classics by Charles William Eliot (1910)
"ODE ON melancholy No, no I go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolf's-bane, ... But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, ..."

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