doleful
sorrowful; mournful; melancholy: a doleful look on her face.
Origin of doleful
1Other words from doleful
- dole·ful·ly, adverb
- dole·ful·ness, noun
Words Nearby doleful
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use doleful in a sentence
They were a little wet and doleful looking, but llamas were bred to withstand the brutal weather of the Andes.
Want to Travel in the Backcountry with Small Children? Rent a Llama. | lwhelan | September 17, 2021 | Outside OnlineFox News called him a “doleful hound,” while the Washington Post preferred the less stylized, “slightly befuddled-looking.”
The Taliban Trolled the Internet with a Dog Video and Upstaged an American POW | Brian Van Reet | February 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere is an even more doleful cultural signifier in all this: the mess that invariably follows the big announcement.
Hollande basically tried to remain above the fray and reinforced his already doleful image as an ineffectual executive.
Roma Immigrants Have Set France on Edge | Christopher Dickey, Alice Guilhamon | October 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTTheir garb lent them either the gravitas the Republican bench has previously lacked, or the doleful aspect of ushers at a funeral.
Huckabee Grills GOP Candidates in Republican Presidential Forum | Lloyd Grove | December 4, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
But the business of most of them that fared this way whose faring has been preserved was of a very doleful character.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperWhen his disciple had finished the solemn and doleful phrase, he smiled while looking round.
Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander DumasSome of the animals suffered so with thirst that they could not graze, and uttered doleful whinneys of distress.
Overland | John William De ForestPerhaps it was this doleful, ominous sound more than anything else that somehow took the enthusiasm out of them.
The Rival Campers Afloat | Ruel Perley SmithAnd no wonder, for of all the doleful too-tooings ever uttered by wind instrument, this was the dolefullest.
Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks | Bracebridge Hemyng
British Dictionary definitions for doleful
/ (ˈdəʊlfʊl) /
dreary; mournful: Archaic word: dolesome (ˈdəʊlsəm)
Derived forms of doleful
- dolefully, adverb
- dolefulness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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