Nearby Words

doleful

[dohl-fuhl] Example Sentences Origin

dole·ful

[dohl-fuhl]
adjective
sorrowful; mournful; melancholy: a doleful look on her face.

Origin:
1225–75; Middle English dol-ful. See dole2, -ful

dole·ful·ly, adverb
dole·ful·ness, noun
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Doleful is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
Example Sentences
  • Burnished doves moan their doleful love songs and young men's fancies turn.
  • For amid all the doleful news, there is a hopeful tide.
  • My daughter sat down at the piano to play something doleful.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
doleful (ˈdəʊlfʊl)
 
adj
Archaic word: dolesome dreary; mournful
 
'dolefully
 
adv
 
'dolefulness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

doleful
late 13c., from O.Fr. doel, from L.L. dolus "grief," from L. dolere "suffer, grieve." Related: Dolefully.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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