sadness

/ˈsædnəs/

/ˈsædnəs/

Other forms: sadnesses

Someone who's blue feels sadness, like a little girl whose best friend has moved away.

Use the noun sadness when you're talking about sorrow. Sadness may be the overwhelming mood at a funeral, for example, or an elderly man might describe his life's greatest sadness as letting his childhood sweetheart get away. An interesting thing about sadness is that its original meaning was "seriousness." It wasn't until the 1600s that it came to mean "full of sorrow."

Definitions of sadness

1. noun

   the state of being sad
   “she tired of his perpetual sadness”

   synonyms: sorrow, sorrowfulness

   types:

   bereavement, mourning

   state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one

   poignance, poignancy

   a state of deeply felt distress or sorrow

   type of:

   unhappiness

   state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief
2. noun

   emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being
   synonyms: unhappiness

   antonyms:

   happiness

   emotions experienced when in a state of well-being

   types:

   dolefulness

   sadness caused by grief or affliction

   heaviness

   persisting sadness

   melancholy

   a feeling of thoughtful sadness

   misery

   a feeling of intense unhappiness

   desolation, forlornness, loneliness

   sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned

   tearfulness, weepiness

   sadness expressed by weeping

   sorrow

   an emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement

   regret, rue, ruefulness, sorrow

   sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment

   cheerlessness, uncheerfulness

   a feeling of dreary or pessimistic sadness

   depression

   sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy

   dejectedness, dispiritedness, downheartedness, low-spiritedness, lowness

   a feeling of low spirits

   gloom, gloominess, somberness, sombreness

   a feeling of melancholy apprehension

   heavyheartedness

   a feeling of dispirited melancholy

   brooding, pensiveness

   persistent morbid meditation on a problem

   Weltschmerz, world-weariness

   sadness on thinking about the evils of the world

   attrition, contriteness, contrition

   sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation

   broken heart

   devastating sorrow and despair

   brokenheartedness, grief, heartache, heartbreak

   intense sorrow caused by loss of a loved one (especially by death)

   mournfulness, ruthfulness, sorrowfulness

   a state of gloomy sorrow

   compunction, remorse, self-reproach

   a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed)

   joylessness

   a feeling of dismal cheerlessness

   demoralisation, demoralization

   depression resulting from an undermining of your morale

   helplessness

   a feeling of being unable to manage

   self-pity

   a feeling of sorrow (often self-indulgent) over your own sufferings

   despondence, despondency, disconsolateness, heartsickness

   feeling downcast and disheartened and hopeless

   oppression, oppressiveness

   a feeling of being oppressed

   dysphoria

   abnormal depression and discontent

   type of:

   feeling

   the experiencing of affective and emotional states
3. noun

   the quality of excessive mournfulness and uncheerfulness
   synonyms: gloominess, lugubriousness

   type of:

   uncheerfulness

   not conducive to cheer or good spirits