melancholy
melancholy — adjective
- melancholypositive
- more melancholycomparative
- most melancholysuperlative
1. feeling a deep, quiet sadness, or making other people feel that way through how
feeling a deep, quiet sadness, or making other people feel that way through how something looks or sounds.
Brandon walked along the empty beach with a melancholy look on his face.
predicate adjective describing facial expression
The old piano in the corner played a slow, melancholy tune.
attributive use with sound nouns: melancholy tune / song / music
Anong felt melancholy whenever the autumn rain started outside her window.
The film ends with a quiet, melancholy scene of an empty house at dusk.
用法筆記
Frequently attributive before nouns like 'mood', 'tune', 'air', 'voice', 'expression', 'beauty'. Distinguish from sibling guide word: this is the visible or audible quality, not a brief moment of feeling.
常見錯誤
melancholy — noun
1. a heavy, quiet sadness that hangs over someone over many weeks or months, usuall
a heavy, quiet sadness that hangs over someone over many weeks or months, usually without any clear cause the person can name.
After her grandmother died, Meera fell into a deep melancholy that lasted for months.
fall / sink into + melancholy
There was a quiet melancholy in Omar's voice as he spoke about his old hometown.
there is + melancholy + in someone's voice / eyes
Long winter evenings in the village often brought a soft melancholy to the older residents.
Felipe tried to shake off the melancholy that had followed him since the funeral.
- depression
stronger, clinical overtones; medical contexts
- sorrow
more tied to a specific loss or pain
- gloom
darker, more oppressive; less reflective
- joy
bright, active happiness
- cheerfulness
lively positive mood
文法句型
a sense / feeling / mood of melancholy
sink into melancholy
用法筆記
Almost always uncountable. Subject often a person ('sank into melancholy') or a place / time of year that triggers the feeling. Distinguish from sense 2: this is the long, low mood itself, not the gentle reflective version.
常見錯誤
2. a gentle, reflective sadness mixed with thinking, often felt while remembering t
a gentle, reflective sadness mixed with thinking, often felt while remembering the past or looking at something quiet and beautiful.
Sivan looked at the old photographs with a soft, thoughtful melancholy.
with + adjective + melancholy
The garden in late autumn had a kind of pensive melancholy that Élise loved.
have + a / kind of + pensive melancholy
Mizuki wrote about the quiet melancholy of walking through her childhood streets again.
There is a sweet melancholy in old letters from people who are no longer alive.
- wistfulness
very close; emphasises gentle longing
- pensiveness
highlights the thoughtful side rather than the sad side
- nostalgia
tied specifically to the past; sweetness over sadness
- elation
intense excited happiness
文法句型
a melancholy of / about something
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: here the feeling is calm, valued, often described as 'sweet' or 'pensive', and tied to memory or quiet scenes rather than a heavy mood. Common in literary writing about autumn, old photos, or revisiting places.