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.]
sadly sad'ly adv.sadness sad'ness n.
SYNONYMS sad, melancholy, sorrowful, doleful, woebegone, desolate. 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).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
