adjective
very sad or making you feel sadness Syn: mournful, Syn: sombre • melancholy thoughts/memories • The melancholy song died away. Word Origin: Middle English: from Old French melancolie, via late Latin from Greek melankholia, from melas, melan- ‘black’ + kholē ‘bile’, an excess of which was formerly believed to cause depression. Example Bank: • She began to feel more and more melancholy. • He was a tall man with a long, melancholy face. • I grew very melancholy and weary.
1.
You describe something that you see or hear as melancholy when it gives you an intense feeling of sadness.
The only sounds were the distant, melancholy cries of the sheep... ADJ
2.
Melancholy is an intense feeling of sadness which lasts for a long time and which strongly affects your behaviour and attitudes. (LITERARY)
I was deeply aware of his melancholy as he stood among the mourners... N-UNCOUNT
3.
If someone feels or looks melancholy, they feel or look very sad. (LITERARY)
It was in these hours of the late afternoon that Tom Mulligan felt most melancholy...
He fixed me with those luminous, empty eyes and his melancholy smile. ADJ
2melancholy adj[more ~; most ~] : feeling or showing sadness : very unhappy • She was in a melancholy mood. • He became quiet and melancholy as the hours slowly passed. • melancholy [=sad, depressing] music/thoughts
