doleful
Full of grief
Doleful means mournful, sorrowful, or expressing grief.
A doleful expression conveys sadness; a doleful song is melancholy.
The word suggests a heavy, lingering sorrow rather than sharp pain: She gave him a doleful look when he said he was leaving.
Doleful can also describe things that cause sadness: doleful news.
Showing or feeling grief
- sorrowfulFilled with grief
- woebegoneOvercome by grief
- plaintiveSounding sad, sorrowful
- lugubriousExaggeratedly mournful in manner
melancholic · wistful · pensive · hangdog · crestfallen · dejected · downcast · forlorn
Sounding sad, sorrowful
- mournfulShowing or feeling grief
- keeningVocal mourning for dead
- lamentingExpressing passionate grief
- elegiacSorrowfully commemorative
dirge-like · wailing · sighing · weeping · moaning · funereal · somber · melancholic
Dark and dispiriting
- bleakDreary and without cheer
- drearyDull and depressing
- dismalDepressingly dark or dull
- somberGravely serious in mood
funereal · sepulchral · desolate · cheerless · joyless · oppressive · leaden · overcast
Intense sorrow from loss
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
- sadnessState of emotional pain
- melancholySubdued, lasting sadness
- despairTotal absence of hope
anguish · heartache · bereavement · loss · mourning · despondency · hopelessness · woe
mournful
Showing or feeling grief
lugubrious · melancholic · wistful · pensive · hangdog · crestfallen · dejected · downcast · forlorn · grief-stricken
plaintive
Sounding sad, sorrowful
elegiac · dirge-like · wailing · sighing · weeping · moaning · funereal · somber · melancholic · haunting
gloomy
Dark and dispiriting
somber · funereal · sepulchral · desolate · cheerless · joyless · oppressive · leaden · overcast · grey
grief
Intense sorrow from loss
- sorrowDeep emotional distress
- sadnessState of emotional pain
- melancholySubdued, lasting sadness
despair · anguish · heartache · bereavement · loss · mourning · despondency · hopelessness · woe · regret