melancholy
MEL-un-kol-eenounMeaning a deep, lasting sadness
Memory hook a MELON-COLLIE. Ever since his melon ball rolled into the river, the old collie lies by the window and sighs all day. Poor melon-collie: he is full of melancholy.
A gentle melancholy settled over the house after the last guests drove away.
In context The song’s cheerful tune hid a deep melancholy: its words told of a sailor who never came home.
Similar sadness, sorrow, gloom, despondency
Opposite happiness, cheer, joy
From Greek melankholia, “black bile”: doctors long ago blamed lasting sadness on too much black bile in the body.