Dolerous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Expressing or suggesting profound grief and lamentation, as if overwhelmed by loss or suffering
2. Characterized by a mournful and sorrowful tone that conveys deep sadness and woeful emotion
3. Marked by doleful sorrow and melancholy, evoking a sense of profound distress or anguish

Etymology: Its root is the Latin "dolor," which meant physical pain before it came to mean mental anguish. The verb "dolere," "to suffer or grieve," gave Latin a whole family of words, and that family reached English along several routes. "Dole" in the sense of sorrow, as in "doleful," and "condole," meaning to share someone's grief, come from the same Latin verb, as do "dolorous" and "dolour." "Dolerous" is a variant of "dolorous," which descends from the Late Latin adjective "dolorosus," "full of pain." The spelling with "e" is the less common form, and it is much rarer in print. Its meaning stays the same: sorrowful, mournful, or painful to bear.