Meanings
plural dolours · alternative dolor
- UKliteraryuncountableAnguish, grief, misery, or sorrow.
But for all this thou ſhalt haue as many Dolors for thy Daughters, as thou canſt tell in a yeare.
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 293, column 25 more examples
Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455Gon[zalo]. When euery greefe is entertaind, / That's offer'd comes to th'entertainer. / Seb[astian]. A dollor. / Gon. Dolour comes to him indeed, you haue ſpoken truer then you purpos'd / Seb. You haue taken it wiſelier then I meant you ſhould.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 6, column 2This Duke (ſaith [Richard] Grafton) being an aged man, and fortunate before in all his vvarres, vpon this diſtaſture impreſſed ſuch dolour of mind, that for verie griefe thereof he liued not long after.
1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Marie Queene of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. The Sixtieth Monarch of the English, Her Raigne, Mariage, Acts, and Death.”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 32, page 819, column 1[E]very ſentence of that Book, every groan of that Man [Francesco Spiera], with all the reſt of his actions in his dolours, […] was as knives and daggers in my Soul; […]
1692, John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: […], 7th edition, London: […] Robert Ponder, […], →OCLC, paragraph 164, page 78[T]o think that I am going to leave her—and to leave her in distress and dolour—No, Miss Lucy, you need never think it!
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 240Synonyms: infelicity, joylessness, sadness, unhappiness, unjoy · Antonyms: elation, felicity, happiness, joy
- UKcountableeconomicsIn economics and utilitarianism: a unit of pain used to theoretically weigh people's outcomes.
Supposedly, utilitarians are able to add and subtract hedons (units of pleasure) and dolors (units of pain) without any signs of cognitive or affective distress […]
1986, Rosemarie Tong, Ethics in Policy Analysis (Occupational Ethics Series), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, →ISBN, page 16
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAnguish, grief, misery, or sorrow.
nounIn economics and utilitarianism: a unit of pain used to theoretically weigh people's outcomes.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*delh₁-“to divide, split”
- Latindolor“ache, hurt, pain; anguish, grief, sorrow; anger, indignation, resentment”
- Old Frenchdolour
- Anglo-Normandolour
- Middle Englishdolour“physical pain, agony, suffering; painful disease; anguish, grief, misery, sorrow; grieving for sins, contrition; hardship, misery, trouble; cause of grief or suffering, affliction”
- Englishdolour
From Middle English dolour (“physical pain, agony, suffering; painful disease; anguish, grief, misery, sorrow; grieving for sins, contrition; hardship, misery, trouble; cause of grief or suffering, affliction”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman dolour, Old French dolour, dolor, dulur (“pain”) (modern French douleur (“pain; distress”)), from Latin dolor (“ache, hurt, pain; anguish, grief, sorrow; anger, indignation, resentment”), from doleō (“to hurt, suffer physical pain; to deplore, grieve, lament”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to divide, split”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). The English word is a doublet of dol.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian печал, скръб
- печал (pečal)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- скръб (skrăb)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Catalan dolor
- doloranguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Chinese Mandarin 悲哀, 傷心 /伤心
- 悲哀 (bēi'āi)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- 傷心 /伤心 (shāngxīn)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Danish smerte
- smerteanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Dutch smart
- smartanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Finnish suru, apeus
- suruanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- apeusanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- ankeusanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
French douleur, deuil
- douleuranguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- deuilanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
German Schmerz
- Schmerzanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Hungarian bú
- búanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Irish ong, dólás
- onganguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- dólásanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Italian dolore
- doloreanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Japanese 悲哀
- 悲哀 (hiai)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Latin dolor
- doloranguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Malay kesedihan
- kesedihananguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Polish boleść, rozpacz
- boleśćanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- rozpaczanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- żalanguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Russian го́ре, гру́сть
- го́ре (góre)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- гру́сть (grústʹ)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- печа́ль (pečálʹ)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- ско́рбь (skórbʹ)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
- тоска́ (toská)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Spanish dolor
- doloranguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Ukrainian смуток
- смуток (smutok)anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow — see also sorrow
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dolour
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
dolour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dolour
“dolour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dolour. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dolour,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dolour.
Source: dolour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.