melancholy

UK/ˈmɛlənkəli/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈmɛlənk(ə)lɪj/

melancholy noun: black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.

Noun

melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)

(historical) 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
Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
- 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...
- 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...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...
Synonyms:

despondency, misery, blueness, tristesse, mirthless, blues, crestfallenness, dejection, depression, distress

Adjective

melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)

(literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.
- 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...
Synonyms:

melancholic, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen
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

melancholy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

melancholy in Hindi

melancholy, depression: अफ़सुरदगी afsurdagī
melancholy: मलोला malolā

melancholy in Urdu

melancholy: مالیخولیا mālīxūliyā, ماخولیا māxūliyā

melancholy in Bengali

মানসিক অবসাদ, হতাশা, সবিষাদ চিন্তাগ্রস্ত, বিষাদগ্রস্ত

More languagesFewer languages

melancholy in Telugu: పైత్యము paityamu
melancholy in Malayalam: ശോകം śōkaṁ
melancholy in Kannada: ಖಿನ್ನತೆ, ವಿಷಣ್ಣತೆ, ದುಮ್ಮಾನ, ಖೇದ
melancholy in Punjabi: غم ġam, ਗ਼ਮ ġam
melancholy in Arabic: سَوْدَاوِيَّة sawdāwiyya
melancholy in Persian: مالیخولیا mâlixuliyâ, مالنخولیا mâlenxuliyâ
melancholy in Vietnamese: trầm cảm

Examples of melancholy in a sentence

"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, […]...
His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance

All 40 example sentences with melancholy

Synonyms of melancholy

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of melancholy

Forms of melancholy

Noun
plural	melancholies
alternative form (obsolete)	melancholly
alternative form (obsolete)	melancholie
alternative form (obsolete)	melancholious
Adjective
comparative	more melancholy
superlative	most melancholy

Origin of melancholy

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.

Words formed from melancholy

Phrases with melancholy

melancholy thistles

Questions about melancholy

What does melancholy mean?: Melancholy means black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
What is melancholy in Hindi?: Melancholy in Hindi is अफ़सुरदगी (afsurdagī), मलोला (malolā). See Melancholy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use melancholy in a sentence?: "The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville.
What part of speech is melancholy?: Melancholy can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce melancholy?: Melancholy is pronounced /ˈmɛlənkəli/ (UK).
What is the plural of melancholy?: The plural of melancholy is melancholies.

Words near melancholy in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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Cite this entry: “melancholy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/melancholy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.