Melancholic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A feeling of deep, persistent sadness or pensiveness, often with a reflective or contemplative quality
2. deeply sorrowful and introspectively pensive, marked by a quiet gloom that encourages thoughtful reflection on life's sorrows
3. characterized by a profound and enduring sadness tinged with contemplative musing about existence and loss

Etymology: The idea behind "melancholic" is a bodily one. Ancient Greek physicians taught that health depended on four fluids, or humours, and that an excess of black bile (melaina chole, literally "black bile") produced low spirits. The Greek "melankholikos" described a person of that dark, gloomy temperament, and the word carried a sense of being prone to outbursts as well as sadness. Its ancestor, "melankholia," meant "melancholy," built from the same two roots. The word passed into Latin as "melancholicus" and then into English, where it kept the temperament sense of an inborn disposition before narrowing to a mood. Today we use it for a feeling of pensive sorrow rather than a fluid in the body, so the medical theory that gave it its shape has quietly dropped out of view.

Synonyms: sorrowful, dejected, mournful, gloomy, woeful

Antonyms: joyful, cheerful, happy, elated, bright