melancholize

M3E1L1A1N1C3H4O1L1I1Z10E1

verb

To make melancholy.

Scrabble 28

Meanings

verbmelancholize (third-person singular simple present melancholizes, present participle melancholizing, simple past and past participle melancholized)

present singular third person melancholizes · participle present melancholizing · participle past melancholized · past melancholized · alternative melancholise

  1. obsoletetransitiveTo make melancholy.
  2. 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, →OCLC
    1 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

  1. Frenchméancoliser
  2. Englishmelancholize

From melancholy + -ize, probably after French méancoliser.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

melancholize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize

MLA

“melancholize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “melancholize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melancholize.

Source: melancholize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.