Meanings
comparative more sorrowful · superlative most sorrowful · alternative sorrowfull
- exhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)
Synonyms: grievous, lamentable, mournful, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless
- Producing sorrow; causing grief.
sorrowful accident
1 more example
She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.
1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLCSynonyms: pitiful, woebegone, atrabiliary, atrabilious, deplorable, depressing, distressing, grievous
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveexhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)
adjectiveProducing sorrow; causing grief.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveexperiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*surgafullaz“full of care; anxious”
- Old Englishsorhful
- Middle Englishsorweful
- Englishsorrowful
From Middle English sorweful, from Old English sorhful, sorgful (“full of care; anxious; sorrowful”), from Proto-Germanic *surgafullaz (“full of care; anxious”), equivalent to sorrow + -ful. Cognate with Old High German sorgfol (“careful; anxious”), Norwegian sorgfull (“sorrowful”), Icelandic sorgfullur (“lamentable”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُحْزَن
- مُحْزَن (muḥzan)full of sorrow
Bulgarian печа́лен, тъ́жен
- печа́лен (pečálen)producing sorrow
- тъ́жен (tắžen)full of sorrow
- скръ́бен (skrắben)full of sorrow
Chinese Mandarin 悲哀, 悲痛
- 悲哀 (bēi'āi)full of sorrow
- 悲痛 (bēitòng)full of sorrow
- 悲傷 /悲伤 (bēishāng)full of sorrow
- 哀愁 (āichóu)full of sorrow
Czech smutný, truchlící
- smutnýfull of sorrow
- truchlícífull of sorrow
Dutch verdrietig, droevig
- verdrietigfull of sorrow
- droevigfull of sorrow
- treurigfull of sorrow
- bedroefdfull of sorrow
- weemoedigfull of sorrow
Finnish surullinen, valitettava
- surullinenproducing sorrow
- valitettavaproducing sorrow
- surullinenfull of sorrow
French attristant, triste
- attristantproducing sorrow
- tristefull of sorrow
- douloureuxfull of sorrow
German betrübt, kummervoll
- betrübtfull of sorrow
- kummervollfull of sorrow
- sorgenvollfull of sorrow
- traurigfull of sorrow
Hindi दुखदायी, दुखद
- दुखदायी (dukhdāyī)producing sorrow
- दुखद (dukhad)producing sorrow
- दुखदायक (dukhdāyak)producing sorrow
- दुःखी (duḥkhī)full of sorrow
Hungarian bús
- búsfull of sorrow
Irish léanmhar, aiféalach
- léanmharproducing sorrow
- aiféalachfull of sorrow
Japanese 痛ましい, 悲しい
- 痛ましい (itamashii)full of sorrow
- 悲しい (kanashii)full of sorrow
Korean 안타깝다, 슬프다
- 안타깝다 (antakkapda)producing sorrow
- 슬프다 (seulpeuda)full of sorrow
Māori tuarea, aroaroā
- tuareafull of sorrow
- aroaroāfull of sorrow
- whakapoururufull of sorrow
Polish smutny
- smutnyfull of sorrow
Portuguese magoado
- magoadofull of sorrow
Russian печа́льный, гру́стный
- печа́льный (pečálʹnyj)full of sorrow
- гру́стный (grústnyj)full of sorrow
- ско́рбный (skórbnyj)full of sorrow
Scottish Gaelic brònach
- brònachfull of sorrow
Spanish triste
- tristefull of sorrow
Turkish üzücü, hüzünlü
- üzücüproducing sorrow
- hüzünlüproducing sorrow
- üzüntülüproducing sorrow
- acılıfull of sorrow
- müteessirfull of sorrow
- üzüntülüfull of sorrow
Cite this entry
sorrowful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sorrowful
“sorrowful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sorrowful. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sorrowful,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sorrowful.
Source: sorrowful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.