sorrowful
English
editAlternative forms
edit- sorrowfull (obsolete)
Etymology
editFrom Middle English sorweful, from Old English sorhful, sorgful (“full of care; anxious; sorrowful”), from Proto-Germanic *surgafullaz (“full of care; anxious”), equivalent to sorrow + -ful. Cognate with Old High German sorgfol (“careful; anxious”), Norwegian sorgfull (“sorrowful”), Icelandic sorgfullur (“lamentable”).
Pronunciation
edit- (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈsɔɹoʊfəl/, /ˈsɔɹəfəl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɑɹoʊfəl/, /ˈsɑɹəfəl/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɒɹəʊfəl/, /ˈsɒɹəfəl/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈsɔɹɐʉfɘl/, /ˈsɔɹɘfɘl/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: sor‧row‧ful
Adjective
editsorrowful (comparative more sorrowful, superlative most sorrowful)
- exhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)
- Producing sorrow; causing grief.
- sorrowful accident
- 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
- She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.
Synonyms
edit- mournful, lamentable, grievous
- See also Thesaurus:sad
- See also Thesaurus:lamentable
Translations
editfull of sorrow
|
producing sorrow
Further reading
edit- “sorrowful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “sorrowful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English adjectives suffixed with -ful
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with collocations
- English terms with quotations