Meanings
present singular third person melancholizes · participle present melancholizing · participle past melancholized · past melancholized · alternative melancholise
- obsoletetransitiveTo make melancholy.
- intransitiveobsoleteTo be melancholy; to be consumed by sad thoughts.
if we be not otherwise well employed, we shall be apt, in our thoughts, to melancholize, and dote upon our mischances.
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, →OCLC1 more example
Many men […] are ſo deiected many times for ſome publike iniury, […] that they dare not come abroad all their liues after, but melancholiſe in corners, and keepe in holes.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, page 88
Origin
- Frenchméancoliser
- Englishmelancholize
From melancholy + -ize, probably after French méancoliser.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
melancholize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize
“melancholize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “melancholize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize.
Source: melancholize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.