sadness - Definitions from Dictionary.com

4 results for: sadness

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

sad

–adjective, sad·der, sad·dest.

1.	affected by unhappiness or grief; sorrowful or mournful: to feel sad because a close friend has moved away.

2.	expressive of or characterized by sorrow: sad looks; a sad song.

3.	causing sorrow: a sad disappointment; sad news.

4.	(of color) somber, dark, or dull; drab.

5.	deplorably bad; sorry: a sad attempt.

6.	Obsolete. firm or steadfast.

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME; OE sæd grave, heavy, weary, orig. sated, full; c. G satt, Goth saths full, satisfied; akin to L satis enough, satur sated, Gk hádén enough. See satiate, saturate

]

—Related forms

sadly, adverb

sadness, noun

—Synonyms 1. unhappy, despondent, disconsolate, discouraged, gloomy, downcast, downhearted, depressed, dejected, melancholy.

—Antonyms 1. happy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
sadness

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

sad Audio Help (sād) Pronunciation Key
adj. sad·der, sad·dest

Affected or characterized by sorrow or unhappiness.
Expressive of sorrow or unhappiness.
Causing sorrow or gloom; depressing: a sad movie; sad news.
Deplorable; sorry: a sad state of affairs; a sad excuse.
Dark-hued; somber.

[Middle English, weary, sorrowful, from Old English sæd, sated, weary; see sā- in Indo-European roots.]

sad'ly adv., sad'ness n.

Synonyms: These adjectives mean affected with or marked by unhappiness, as that caused by affliction. Sad is the most general: "Better by far you should forget and smile/Than that you should remember and be sad" (Christina Rossetti).
Melancholy can refer to lingering or habitual somberness or sadness: a melancholy poet's gloomy introspection.
Sorrowful applies to emotional pain as that resulting from loss: sorrowful mourners at the funeral.
Doleful describes what is mournful or morose: the doleful expression of a reprimanded child.
Woebegone suggests grief or wretchedness, especially as reflected in a person's appearance: "His sorrow . . . made him look . . . haggard and . . . woebegone" (George du Maurier).
Desolate applies to one that is beyond consolation: "No one is so accursed by fate,/No one so utterly desolate,/But some heart, though unknown,/Responds unto his own" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

sadness
noun
1.	emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being [ant: happiness]
2.	the state of being sad; "she tired of his perpetual sadness"
3.	the quality of excessive mournfulness and uncheerfulness [syn: gloominess]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sadness

Grief\ (gr[=e]f), n. [OE. grief, gref, OF. grief, gref, F. grief, L. gravis heavy; akin to Gr. bary`s, Skr. guru, Goth. ka['u]rus. Cf. Barometer, Grave, a., Grieve, Gooroo.]

1. Pain of mind on account of something in the past; mental suffering arising from any cause, as misfortune, loss of friends, misconduct of one's self or others, etc.; sorrow; sadness.

The mother was so afflicted at the loss of a fine boy, . . . that she died for grief of it. --Addison.

2. Cause of sorrow or pain; that which afficts or distresses; trial; grievance.

Be factious for redress of all these griefs. --Shak.

3. Physical pain, or a cause of it; malady. [R.]

This grief (cancerous ulcers) hastened the end of that famous mathematician, Mr. Harriot. --Wood.

To come to grief, to meet with calamity, accident, defeat, ruin, etc., causing grief; to turn out badly. [Colloq.]

Syn: Affiction; sorrow; distress; sadness; trial; grievance.

Usage: Grief, Sorrow, Sadness. Sorrow is the generic term; grief is sorrow for some definite cause -- one which commenced, at least, in the past; sadness is applied to a permanent mood of the mind. Sorrow is transient in many cases; but the grief of a mother for the loss of a favorite child too often turns into habitual sadness. "Grief is sometimes considered as synonymous with sorrow; and in this case we speak of the transports of grief. At other times it expresses more silent, deep, and painful affections, such as are inspired by domestic calamities, particularly by the loss of friends and relatives, or by the distress, either of body or mind, experienced by those whom we love and value." --Cogan. See Affliction.

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