1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
adopted a sorrowful tone of voice to read the news story about the former governor's death
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sad
feeling unhappiness
the cult seemed to be a sorrowful assemblage of emotionally scarred people seeking love and redemption
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of sorrowful
The dissolve from a god’s eye view of a comforting, warm embrace in a bed between mother and daughter to the cold, sorrowful chill of Alex’s lonely body hits us like a wallop.
—
Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
No other actor this year delivered a line with more sorrowful force.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
The lawyer, played by Kayla Wallace, listens with the sorrowful look of a child who has burned down a Ronald McDonald house with her terminally ill brother inside.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025
Being successful in America, according to Part II, inherently means becoming the bad guy, and Francis Ford Coppola mourns that fact, abetted by arguably Pacino’s finest, most sorrowful performance as a man who sells every bit of his soul to maintain his power.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sorrowful
Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
No other actor this year delivered a line with more sorrowful force.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
The lawyer, played by Kayla Wallace, listens with the sorrowful look of a child who has burned down a Ronald McDonald house with her terminally ill brother inside.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025
Being successful in America, according to Part II, inherently means becoming the bad guy, and Francis Ford Coppola mourns that fact, abetted by arguably Pacino’s finest, most sorrowful performance as a man who sells every bit of his soul to maintain his power.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sorrowful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sorrowful
Adjective
-
Once abundant on the island, this ground-foraging dove – with an earthy red-brown plumage and a quiet, mournful call – disappeared from the wild by 1972.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
-
Several of her patients left mournful messages on the Yelp page of her Arcadia practice.—
Clara Harter
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
That's the sad reality facing many dogs in the wider shelter system.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 July 2025
-
Sinner plowed through an ailing Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, in a match that could serve as a sad, unfortunate coda to one of the most remarkable grass careers in tennis history.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.—
David Mamet,
National Review,
11 Aug. 2022
-
The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
-
That's become a new line of attack for the Trump administration, which is already unhappy with the Fed for not moving more aggressively to lower interest rates.—
Scott Horsley,
NPR,
14 July 2025
-
Speculation is that Ferrari is unhappy with Vasseur's performance, although these rumors have been shut down by Vasseur, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc.—
Saajan Jogia,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Raymond Cheadle, Honesty’s great-uncle, told WUSA the family, including the girl’s dad, is heartbroken.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
11 July 2025
-
Pepe has the power to make two heartbroken Islanders immediately forget about their old connections.—
Alejandra Gularte,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
Screenshot from a July 1 TikTok video of a depressed golden retriever waiting for her dog dad to return 1 1/2 years after a breakup.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 July 2025
-
The law expands opportunity zones and extends tax benefits for investing in inner cities and economically depressed rural areas.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
April 23, 2025 But a papal funeral is a papal funeral, and those present for the funeral Mass on Saturday, along with millions watching online or on TV around the world, will still observe a solemn moment involving sumptuous Catholic pageantry.—
Elisabetta Povoledo,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2025
-
Maliciously or willfully disturbing a funeral, memorial service, procession or burial ceremony. Threatening, quarreling or challenging to fight someone, or fighting.—
Shaun Goodwin,
Idaho Statesman,
16 June 2025
Adjective
-
For now, this is DeVries on the job: intent but measured, teeth ready to clamp down on his tongue, establishing standards while also very much trying to make sure his team isn’t miserable from the beginning.—
Brian Hamilton,
New York Times,
11 July 2025
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His Panthers opened the season with two miserable losses, complete with booing from fans in the home opener, and the 23-year-old soon became the first quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the Super Bowl era to be benched for non-injury reasons.—
Eric Jackson,
Sportico.com,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sorrowful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sorrowful. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
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