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Melancholy
Definitions
- 1 Affected with great sadness or depression. literary
"Melancholy people don't talk much."
- 1 grave or even gloomy in character wordnet
- 2 characterized by or causing or expressing sadness wordnet
- 1 Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies. countable, historical, uncountable
"Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones."
- 2 a humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy wordnet
- 3 Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature. countable, uncountable
"My mind was troubled with deep melancholy."
- 4 a feeling of thoughtful sadness wordnet
- 5 a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”). Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.
From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”). Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.
See also for "melancholy"
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