| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| melancholy |
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| SYLLABICATION: | mel·an·chol·y |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  m l  n-k l  |
| NOUN: | 1. Sadness or depression of the spirits; gloom: “There is melancholy in the wind and sorrow in the grass” (Charles Kuralt). 2. Pensive reflection or contemplation. 3. Archaic a. Black bile. b. An emotional state characterized by sullenness and outbreaks of violent anger, believed to arise from black bile. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Affected with or marked by depression of the spirits; sad. See synonyms at sad. 2. Tending to promote sadness or gloom: a letter with some melancholy news. 3. Pensive; thoughtful. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English melancolie, from Old French, from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek melankholi : mels, melan-, black + khol, bile; see ghel-2 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | melan·choli·ly —ADVERB
melan·choli·ness —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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