Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Affected with or subject to melancholy.
- adj. Of or relating to melancholia.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Affected with melancholy; gloomy; hypochondriac.
- Produced by melancholy; expressive or suggestive of melancholy; somber; gloomy; mournful: as, melancholic strains.
- Producing melancholy; unfortunate; causing sorrow.
- n. One who is affected with mental gloom; a hypochondriac; in pathology, one who suffers from melancholia; a melancholiac.
- n. A gloomy state of mind.
Wiktionary
- adj. Filled with or affected by melancholy—great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
- n. A person who is habitually melancholy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Given to melancholy; depressed; melancholy; dejected; unhappy.
- n. One affected with a gloomy state of mind.
- n. A gloomy state of mind; melancholy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone subject to melancholia
- adj. characterized by or causing or expressing sadness
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek μελαγχολικός (melankholikos, "atrabilious, impulsive, of atrabilious or melancholic temperament"), from μελαγχολία (melankholia, "melancholy"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Whether we identify as melancholic, or a classic Meyers-Briggs Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging, or excuse our disheveled bedroom as a sign of our creativity, we take comfort in classifying our personalities, even as we insist on our individuality.”
“I will go out on a limb and suggest a certain melancholic mood perchance?”
“The melancholic is the person whose mum and dad made it impossible for him to maintain the illusion that normally keeps this awareness at bay.”
“Many great artists — and not only they — were described as melancholic, among them”
“Rembrandt and Velázquez — was ever described as melancholic and, indeed, showed any traces of the affliction.”
“This temperament the Elizabethans would have called melancholic; and Hamlet seems to be an example of it, as Lear is of a temperament mixedly choleric and sanguine.”
Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
“But when I am melancholic, that is how I like to play.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“Speaking of Simon, Ritter recalls the melancholic side of that legendary songwriter in the epic "Another New World," as well as his perky side in "Lark.”
“All in all there are also glimpses especially in the Piano Quartet of a subtle lyrical and romantic aura that produces some ethereal sounds that recall melancholic and mellow moods.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘melancholic’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Sorrow is better than laughter; for b...
lachrymose, melancholic, sorrow, wail, mournful, sob, misery, wretchedness, anguish, agony, heartbreak, lament and 38 more...
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pseudoscience
craniology, craniometer, cranioscopy, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic, choleric, homeopathy, allopathy, metoposcopy, panacea, catholicon and 24 more...
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The Medley of Me
A jumble of words, sometimes contradictory, that add up to me. I'll probably be adding to this list for some time, because I'm a very complex individual. ;P
male, long-haired, big-eyed, writer, artist, guitarist, songsmith, talespinner, pilot, wannabe barnstormer, gypsy, cuddlesome and 209 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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classic695's Words
delighted, elated, energetic, excited, enthusiastic, elevated, happy, contented, fine, pleased, satisfied, compassionate and 168 more...
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Word of the day.
Some days, there will be a word. That word is the word of the day. Other days shall remain wordless. That's just the way things go.
petulant, anisometropia, zoroaster, cram, affinity, proprietary, cupertino effect, sidereal, schmutz, icosanoids, vendetta, bougie and 137 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Having: C; m; e
Goodies pulled from a list I've compiled of most-every word having these letters in common — It's going take to take a long, long time to actually get through (and I may want to extend it lat...
chamber, chimney, compesce, imperch, ipom�ic, lambency, premier cru, recumbence, simnelcake, succumbence, umbeschew, almacle and 631 more...
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describe me
charming, afectionate, addictive, selfless, patience, drastic, fond, light-heeled, fragrant, delicate, care-free, natural and 95 more...
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I
The Unique
egoist, individualist, loner, hateful, asocial, inactive, anarchist, misanthrope, fascist, disturbed, bored, isolationist and 111 more...
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GRE
predisposed, browbeaten, hegemonic, corollary, mendacity, remnant, futile, touchstone, upshot, intuition, perseverance, perk and 214 more...
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tragedy of the commons
insomnia, arabesque, carousal, lucifer, riot, submerge, initiate, indigo, existence, magenta, opus, sleeplessness and 145 more...
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Portnoy's Complaint
Words gathered while reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.
bonditt, goy, kishkas, goyische, shkotzim, if-onlying, pishachs, schvartze, milchiks, flaishedigeh, galvanic, chazerai and 123 more...
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today's word
copemate, quiddity, ere, maugre, argal, cultivar, exurb, spokesmodel, rollick, logy, cadastral, corpulent and 259 more...
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exquisite's Words
trust, melancholic, uncharacteristically, pule, idioglossia, incandescence, ephemeral, zine, despondent, shrub, incandescent, lepidoptera and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for melancholic.
mkb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments#Melancholic May 13, 2008