Melancholia
noun
A feeling of deep sadness.
She suffered from a deep melancholia after her husband's death.
Often appears as...
- suffer from melancholia
- deep melancholia
Usage tips
Formal
noun
A mental condition marked by persistent depression and ill-founded fears.
Her melancholia was diagnosed as a result of a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Often appears as...
- diagnosed with melancholia
- severe melancholia
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
A feeling of pensive sadness, often with no obvious cause.
The film captures an air of melancholia that seeps into your soul.
Often appears as...
- air of melancholia
- pervading melancholia
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Literary
noun
A feeling of deep sadness.
She suffered from a deep melancholia after her husband's death.
Often appears as...
- suffer from melancholia
- deep melancholia
Usage tips
Formal
noun
A mental condition marked by persistent depression and ill-founded fears.
Her melancholia was diagnosed as a result of a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Often appears as...
- diagnosed with melancholia
- severe melancholia
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
A feeling of pensive sadness, often with no obvious cause.
The film captures an air of melancholia that seeps into your soul.
Often appears as...
- air of melancholia
- pervading melancholia
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Literary
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Weight
Melancholia implies a heavy, profound sadness, more than a fleeting feeling.
His eyes reflected the melancholia of a man who had seen too much sorrow.
Pro Tip 2/3Expressing Empathy
Use melancholia when relating to someone's deep sadness to show empathy.
I understood the melancholia she felt; losing a loved one is devastating.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Casual Use
Don't use 'melancholia' for everyday disappointments; it's too intense.
Missing your favorite show doesn't warrant melancholia.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Weight
Melancholia implies a heavy, profound sadness, more than a fleeting feeling.
His eyes reflected the melancholia of a man who had seen too much sorrow.
Pro Tip 2/3Expressing Empathy
Use melancholia when relating to someone's deep sadness to show empathy.
I understood the melancholia she felt; losing a loved one is devastating.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Casual Use
Don't use 'melancholia' for everyday disappointments; it's too intense.
Missing your favorite show doesn't warrant melancholia.
Pro Tip 1/3Emotional Weight
Melancholia implies a heavy, profound sadness, more than a fleeting feeling.
His eyes reflected the melancholia of a man who had seen too much sorrow.
Pro Tip 2/3Expressing Empathy
Use melancholia when relating to someone's deep sadness to show empathy.
I understood the melancholia she felt; losing a loved one is devastating.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Casual Use
Don't use 'melancholia' for everyday disappointments; it's too intense.
Missing your favorite show doesn't warrant melancholia.
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Video examples
A brief history of...
the human body and soul were controlled by four fluids, known as humors, and their balance directly influenced a person's health and temperament. Melancholia comes from melaina kole, the word for black bile, the humor believed to cause sadness.
Video examples
A brief history of...
the human body and soul were controlled by four fluids, known as humors, and their balance directly influenced a person's health and temperament. Melancholia comes from melaina kole, the word for black bile, the humor believed to cause sadness.
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Sue Hubbell
American Author
It wasn't that there weren't menfolk in my grandmother's stories. There were lots of them but they died young or were drifters and dreamers who disappeared or turned to drink or succumbed to melancholia or slow mortal diseases. The women, on the other hand, lived a long time and were full of spit and vinegar until the end.
Quote examples
Toby Jones
English Actor
The script for 'Infamous' was so poised between tragedy and comedy. It's a dream part. One reads those scripts with a sense of melancholia. When you read a script that good... I remember thinking, 'Oh, this script is too good. They'll never give it to me.
Quote examples
Jon Hopkins
English Musician
My own personality is fairly optimistic and generally very happy, but like everyone else I've been through difficult stuff, particularly in my teenage years, where I experienced enough melancholia to feed any number of electronic records.
Quote examples
Kangana Ranaut
Indian Actress
When I did these psychological characters like the drug addicts, the ones who were rejected and dejected, I started to feel a sort of melancholia which was very unnatural for me to have at a teenage. Then I avoided those characters.
Quote examples
Hilton Als
American Writer
I suppose that there are many novels that are set during the summer because it's a lonely time of year. Friends come and go, comfort comes and goes, which makes it a perfect time of year to indulge in melancholia.
Quote examples
Graham Greene
British Novelist
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Quote examples
David Bowie
English Musician
For me, often, there's such a cloud of melancholia about knowing I'm going to have to leave my daughter on her own. I don't know what age that is going to be, thank God. It just doubles me up in grief.
Quote examples
Patricia Kaas
French Musician
When you lose your mother at 20 and then your father soon after, melancholia is part of your life.
Quote examples
Julian Fellowes
English Actor
I have fits of melancholia when I watch the news, but we all do, don't we?
Quote examples
Johan Renck
Swedish Director
I'm Swedish. Sweden is known for its melancholia.
Quote examples
Sue Hubbell
American Author
It wasn't that there weren't menfolk in my grandmother's stories. There were lots of them but they died young or were drifters and dreamers who disappeared or turned to drink or succumbed to melancholia or slow mortal diseases. The women, on the other hand, lived a long time and were full of spit and vinegar until the end.
Quote examples
Toby Jones
English Actor
The script for 'Infamous' was so poised between tragedy and comedy. It's a dream part. One reads those scripts with a sense of melancholia. When you read a script that good... I remember thinking, 'Oh, this script is too good. They'll never give it to me.
Quote examples
Jon Hopkins
English Musician
My own personality is fairly optimistic and generally very happy, but like everyone else I've been through difficult stuff, particularly in my teenage years, where I experienced enough melancholia to feed any number of electronic records.
Quote examples
Kangana Ranaut
Indian Actress
When I did these psychological characters like the drug addicts, the ones who were rejected and dejected, I started to feel a sort of melancholia which was very unnatural for me to have at a teenage. Then I avoided those characters.
Quote examples
Hilton Als
American Writer
I suppose that there are many novels that are set during the summer because it's a lonely time of year. Friends come and go, comfort comes and goes, which makes it a perfect time of year to indulge in melancholia.
Quote examples
Graham Greene
British Novelist
Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.
Quote examples
David Bowie
English Musician
For me, often, there's such a cloud of melancholia about knowing I'm going to have to leave my daughter on her own. I don't know what age that is going to be, thank God. It just doubles me up in grief.
Quote examples
Patricia Kaas
French Musician
When you lose your mother at 20 and then your father soon after, melancholia is part of your life.
Quote examples
Julian Fellowes
English Actor
I have fits of melancholia when I watch the news, but we all do, don't we?
Quote examples
Johan Renck
Swedish Director
I'm Swedish. Sweden is known for its melancholia.
Example 1 of 10
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