melancholia
4
9.1
- noun
- /ˌmɛlənˈkoʊliə/
- After the breakup, she experienced a deep sense of melancholia that made it hard to enjoy anything.
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Watch on YouTubeWhat was interesting, though, was depression used to be called melancholia.
- What was interesting, though, was depression used to be called melancholia.
Examples
-
In mourning, it is the world that has become poor and empty; in melancholia, it is the ego itself.
Academic text (2007) -
I have always felt that this experience of melancholia of mine had a religious bearing.
Academic text (1997) -
The president, suffering an intense bout of melancholia, refuses to see members of his cabinet.
Fiction book (2001) -
He's suffering from acute melancholia... together with a guilt complex.
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The city, for Njami, is a space of creativity, but also of nostalgia, loss, and melancholia.
Academic text (2008) -
After Vinnie was born, a kind of melancholia settled over me which I mistook for contentment.
-
Better he should never know that the dark downward spiral into black melancholia bore faithful, earnest, loving Ellen.
Fiction book (1998) -
My RX for combating melancholia is victories, no matter how minor, against the bourgeoisie.
Blog text (31) -
His prolonged melancholia left him feeling disconnected from his friends and family.
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The painting evoked a sense of melancholia, capturing the sadness of lost moments in life.
Synonyms
410
2.1
Deep sadness after you lose someone or something important
228
1.0
A feeling of being unhappy
76
3.7
A deep feeling of sadness and loss of interest in life
41
1.8
A feeling of sadness or not feeling satisfied with life
27
4.9
A deep, long-lasting feeling of sadness
10
3.9
A serious mental illness doctors diagnose that causes long deep sadness and loss of interest and often needs treatment
6
3.7
A very strong feeling of sadness after a great loss
5
4.8
Long periods of deep sadness and loss of interest that make daily life hard and often need medical help
1
6.5
A deep, quiet feeling or look of sadness
1
6.6
A quiet feeling of sadness and low spirits
1
9.3
Unable to be comforted after a sad loss
1
9.3
A feeling of deep sadness that nothing can comfort
1
7.4
A feeling of being sad or low
1
6.3
A deep feeling of sadness about a loss
A long time of deep sadness and worry without false beliefs or hearing things that are not there
Antonyms
How Sad
Surface Forms
Morphology
melancholia = melancholy (semi-transparent) = melancholy + ia
The relationship to 'melancholy' is clear, but the -ia ending is a Latinate/medical variant and the spelling change (y → ia) and register shift mean learners may not automatically derive the meaning.
Etymology
Melancholia comes from Greek parts melan ('black') and chole ('bile'). Long ago doctors thought too much 'black bile' made someone very sad. So melancholia means deep, lasting sadness, and it is the same idea as the simpler word melancholy.