melancholy (n.)

  1. a feeling of thoughtful sadness

  2. a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed

  3. a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy

    [ Syn: black bile ]

    melancholy (adj.)

  1. characterized by or causing or expressing sadness; growing more melancholy every hour; her melancholic smile; we acquainted him with the melancholy truth

    [ Syn: melancholic ]

  2. grave or even gloomy in character; solemn and mournful music; a suit of somber black; a somber mood

    [ Syn: somber , sombre ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
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