melancholic

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌmɛlənˈkɑlɪk/ UK /ˌmɛlənˈkɒlɪk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
marked by deep, pensive sadness or gloom

A melancholic tune drifted from the half-open window.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · marked by deep, pensive... gloomy despondent mournful morose dejected sorrowful

Opposites

cheerful joyful sanguine blithe

Word family

Derived forms melancholically

Related forms melancholy melancholia

Etymology

From Late Latin melancholicus, from Ancient Greek melankholikós, from melagkholía ('black bile'), from mélas ('black') + kholḗ ('bile') — in humoral medicine an excess of black bile was thought to cause gloom.

mélas Ancient Greek kholḗ Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# melancholic

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌmɛlənˈkɑlɪk/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌmɛlənˈkɒlɪk/

## Meanings
1. marked by deep, pensive sadness or gloom

## Examples
- A melancholic tune drifted from the half-open window.

## Synonyms
- gloomy
- despondent
- mournful
- morose
- dejected
- sorrowful

## Antonyms
- cheerful
- joyful
- sanguine
- blithe

## Derived Forms
- melancholically

## Related Forms
- melancholy
- melancholia

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: mélas
- Root: kholḗ

## Etymology
From Late Latin melancholicus, from Ancient Greek melankholikós, from melagkholía ('black bile'), from mélas ('black') + kholḗ ('bile') — in humoral medicine an excess of black bile was thought to cause gloom.

## AI Etymology
Melancholic comes from Late Latin melancholicus, from Ancient Greek melankholikós, from melagkholía ('black bile'), from mélas ('black') + kholḗ ('bile') — in humoral medicine an excess of black bile was thought to cause gloom. The etymological trail includes Ancient Greek mélas, Ancient Greek kholḗ. The same word family includes melancholically, melancholy, melancholia. Its current adjective use means "marked by deep, pensive sadness or gloom".

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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