doleful

[ dohl-fuhl ]

adjective

1. sorrowful; mournful; melancholy:

   a doleful look on her face.

doleful

/ ˈdəʊlfʊl /

adjective

1. dreary; mournful Archaic worddolesomeˈdəʊlsəm

Derived Forms

• ˈdolefulness, noun
• ˈdolefully, adverb

Other Words From

• doleful·ly adverb
• doleful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of doleful¹

First recorded in 1225–75, doleful is from the Middle English word dol-ful. See dole ², -ful

Example Sentences

Gray was far from the first to tell a doleful tale about an orphan character—he borrowed from Dickens—but in writing for children in an art form that depends on caricatures, all subtlety went out the window.

From Slate

Set in the high-rises of the Cabrini-Green housing project in 1992, when the beleaguered complex’s decline was palpable, it sounds like a recipe for doleful poverty-gazing.

From Los Angeles Times

“Civil War” shudders with doleful fury.

From Los Angeles Times

In a doleful irony, his digital rerecording of the piece, taken at a more stately tempo and with other changes, would be the last Gould album released by Columbia before his untimely death at age 50 in 1982.

From Los Angeles Times

In a sign of the strength of the “Barbie” soundtrack, the winner’s stiffest Oscars competition may have been another song from the film, “I’m Just Ken,” Ryan Gosling’s doleful lamentation.

From New York Times