sadness

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“
This sadness was the only inconvenience; for his manners, naturally uncommon, could not be compared to the ridiculous pretensions of Girandeau, the traveling clerk, nor to the noisy eccentricities of Cabrion; M. Girandeau by his inexhaustible loquacity, and the painter by his hilarity not less so, had the advantage of Germain, whose gentle gravity awed a little his lively neighbor.

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Definitions (10)

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  1. Heaviness; weight; firmness; strength. Whenne it is wel confourmed to sadnesse On fleykes legge hem ichoone so from other. Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 154. Whereby as I grant that it seemeth outwardlie to be verie thicke & well doone, so, if you respect the sadnes thereof, it dooth prooue in the end to be verie hollow & not able to hold out water. Harrison, Descrip. of England, ii. 22 (Holinshed's Chron.).
  2. Steadiness; steadfastness; constancy. This markis in his herte longeth so To tempte his wyf, hir sadnesse for to knowe. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, l. 396.
  3. Seriousness; gravity; discretion; sedateness; sobriety; sober earnest. For if that oon have beaute in hir face, Another stant so in the peples grace For hire sadnesse and hire benyngnytee, That of the peple grettest voys hath she. Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, l. 347. And as for hitting the prick, because it is unpossible, it were a vain thing to go about it in good sadness. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 94. In good sadness, I do not know. Shak., All's Well, iv. 3. 230. In sadness, 'tis good and mature counsel. B. Jonson, Epicœne, iv. 2.
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Examples (50)

  • But he had prepared himself for sadness, and sadness was absent. —  Fox Evil
  • Even Shelley's beautiful verses to her memory do not indicate any special reason for her sadness, as far as he was concerned Her voice did quiver as we parted Yet knew I not that heart was broken From which it came, and I departed Heeding not the words then spoken Misery—oh Misery This world is all too wide for thee. —  Mrs. Shelley
  • They would not realize her sadness was all for them. —  Red As Blood
  • Or maybe the sadness was my own, because I knew she would die at thirty-four and all that passion for life would die with her. —  Asimov'sSF,Feb2004
  • This sadness was then followed by an intense relief that I no longer have to deal with those demons, and that the kind of writing I am pursuing now is of the much more gratifying kind. —  Ontario Blogs Feed
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

sorrow ·  weariness ·  regret ·  tenderness ·  bitterness ·  embarrassment ·  dismay ·  awe ·  uncertainty ·  melancholy ·  pathos ·  resignation
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also sadnes, sadnesse; from Middle English sadnes, sadnesse, from Anglo-Saxon sædness, satiety, repletion, from sæd, full, sated: see sad.
 

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