Sadness

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsædnəs/

Definitions

1. A feeling of unhappiness or sorrow, often triggered by loss, disappointment, or unpleasant circumstances
2. A complex emotional state characterized by feelings of sorrow, disappointment, and unhappiness, often arising from loss or adverse situations
3. An emotional experience marked by feelings of distress, grief, and discontent, typically resulting from unfavorable events or losses

Etymology: "Sadness" is a plain formation: the adjective "sad" with the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a state or quality. It is one of the many English nouns built this way, alongside "kindness" and "happiness." The adjective "sad" has a more surprising past. In Old English the ancestor of "sad" meant "sated" or "satisfied," as in having had enough to eat or drink, and this sense of being full survives in the German "satt." Over the Middle Ages the word shifted from contentment toward weariness and then toward grief, so that a person who was once simply full came to be described as heavy-hearted. Middle English speakers therefore formed "sadnesse" from the adjective, and the noun later shortened to the spelling we use now. The word's meaning followed the adjective's drift, so the noun came to name a state of sorrow rather than any kind of fullness.

Synonyms: sorrow, unhappiness, grief, melancholy, despair

Antonyms: happiness, joy, cheerfulness, elation, delight