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SADabbr. seasonal affective disorder |
sad (s d)adj. sad·der, sad·dest 1. Affected or characterized by sorrow or unhappiness. 2. Expressive of sorrow or unhappiness. 3. Causing sorrow or gloom; depressing: a sad movie; sad news. 4. Deplorable; sorry: a sad state of affairs; a sad excuse. 5. Dark-hued; somber.
[Middle English, weary, sorrowful, from Old English sæd, sated, weary; see s - in Indo-European roots.]
sad ly adv. sad ness n. Synonyms: sad, melancholy, sorrowful, doleful, woebegone, desolate These adjectives mean affected with or marked by unhappiness, as that caused by affliction. Sad is the most general: "Better by far you should forget and smile/Than that you should remember and be sad" (Christina Rossetti). Melancholy can refer to lingering or habitual somberness or sadness: a melancholy poet's gloomy introspection. Sorrowful applies to emotional pain as that resulting from loss: sorrowful mourners at the funeral. Doleful describes what is mournful or morose: the doleful expression of a reprimanded child. Woebegone suggests grief or wretchedness, especially as reflected in a person's appearance: "His sorrow . . . made him look . . . haggard and . . . woebegone" (George du Maurier). Desolate applies to one that is beyond consolation: "No one is so accursed by fate,/No one so utterly desolate,/But some heart, though unknown,/Responds unto his own" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). |
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