Meanings
comparative more disconsolate · superlative most disconsolate
- Cheerless, dreary.
I opened my eyes to this disconsolate day.
5 more examples
a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts, / With ceaſeleſſe and diſconſolate conceits, / Which dies my lookes so liueleſſe as they are, / And might, if my extreames had ful euents, / Make me the gaſtly counterfeit of death.
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iiBut vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him?
1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 329Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighbouring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II)[S]itting close beside it, taking the air with an infinite sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.
1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Incident at the Window”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 631897, W.S.Maugham, Liza of Lambeth, chapter 1. Worst off of all were the very young children, for there had been no rain for weeks, and the street was as dry and clean as a covered court, and, in the lack of mud to wallow in, they sat about the road, disconsolate as poets.
Synonyms: bleak, dreary, downcast, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose
- Seemingly beyond consolation; inconsolable.
For weeks after the death of her cat she was disconsolate.
1 more example
overwhelmed with disconsolate sorrow
a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLCSynonyms: dejected, inconsolable, unconsolable, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue · Antonyms: consolable
- obsoleteDisconsolateness.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCheerless, dreary.
adjectiveSeemingly beyond consolation; inconsolable.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivesad beyond comforting; incapable of being consoled
adjectivecausing dejection
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Medieval Latindiscōnsōlātus“comfortless”
- Englishdisconsolate
From Medieval Latin discōnsōlātus (“comfortless”), from dis- (“away”) + cōnsōlātus (“consoled”).
More words from Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian тъжен, печален
- тъжен (tăžen)cheerless, dreary
- печален (pečalen)cheerless, dreary
- неутешим (neutešim)inconsolable
Czech sklíčený, zdrcený
- sklíčenýcheerless, dreary
- zdrcenýcheerless, dreary
- zoufalýcheerless, dreary
- neutěšitelnýinconsolable
Dutch troosteloos, mistroostig
- troostelooscheerless, dreary
- mistroostigcheerless, dreary
- ontroostbaarinconsolable
French inconsolable
- inconsolableinconsolable
German trostlos, untröstlich
- trostloscheerless, dreary
- untröstlichinconsolable
Greek απελπισμένος, απαρηγόρητος
- απελπισμένος (apelpisménos)cheerless, dreary
- απαρηγόρητος (aparigóritos)inconsolable
Hungarian szomorú, bús
- szomorúcheerless, dreary
- búscheerless, dreary
- vigasztalancheerless, dreary
- vigasztalaninconsolable
- vigasztalhatatlaninconsolable
Māori kaimōhū, kaimōhū
- kaimōhūcheerless, dreary
- kaimōhūinconsolable
- pūkatokatoinconsolable
- ohaiinconsolable
- rohaiinconsolable
Portuguese melancólico, desconsolado
- melancólicocheerless, dreary
- desconsoladoinconsolable
- desamparadoinconsolable
Russian печа́льный, безуте́шный
- печа́льный (pečálʹnyj)cheerless, dreary
- безуте́шный (bezutéšnyj)inconsolable
Spanish desconsolado, desconsolado
- desconsoladocheerless, dreary
- desconsoladoinconsolable
Swedish otröstlig
- otröstliginconsolable
Ukrainian безуті́шний, невті́шний
- безуті́шний (bezutíšnyj)inconsolable
- невті́шний (nevtíšnyj)inconsolable
Cite this entry
disconsolate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disconsolate
“disconsolate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disconsolate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disconsolate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disconsolate.
Source: disconsolate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.