MELANCHOLIA Synonyms: 98 Similar and Opposite Words

melancholia

noun

Definition of melancholia

as in melancholy

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of melancholia The best thing to fight off early sunset melancholia is to try to get outside at dusk, even for a few minutes. — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2025 It was used to treat melancholia and, of course, hangovers, presumably due to its high caffeine content. — Aleksandra Crapanzano, The Atlantic, 27 Oct. 2025 His story is sad and beautiful; as always, Only Murders cuts the melancholia with flashes of genuine warmth. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 9 Sep. 2025 Their melancholia was the uncertainty inherent in a time of enormous change. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 28 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for melancholia

Recent Examples of Synonyms for melancholia

Noun

The question for me is whether or not Lloyd will also manage to capture the melancholy of a deceptively serious play, notwithstanding its reputation.

— Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026
On the one hand, there’s a fascination with collective joy and the forms of vernacular invention that aspire to it; on the other, there’s an underlying melancholy that points to the inevitability of isolation, an epistemology of loneliness.

— Pablo Larios, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of melancholy

Noun

Beat shows how so many of the sounds that were prevalent in the mid-’90s contained a unique, end-of-the century sadness.

— Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 4 Oct. 2026
People can experience grief, sadness, relief, conflict or combinations of these emotions after any pregnancy outcome.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of sadness

Noun

And while there’d been some unhappiness between her and the Borden girls a few years before the murders — a disagreement over a property the family owned — there wasn’t the kind of outright resentment portrayed in the show.

— Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2026
The post and later comments arrived two months before the midterm elections, where Americans’ unhappiness with persistent high inflation has been a dominant theme.

— Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of unhappiness

Noun

Colors are accurate and saturated, doing justice to the bright vibrance of Frieren on Crunchyroll on my iPad Air and the dark gloominess of Ball x Pit on my Switch 2 via an adapter.

— Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 12 Mar. 2026
His gloominess seemed to make no sense.

— Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 25 Oct. 2025

Definition of gloominess

Noun

In the space of a few paragraphs, Ned will abandon and recover his child, bungle an extramarital affair, win and lose, experience ecstasy and dejection.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2026
Miller’s hands dropped quickly to his side in frustrated dejection.

— Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of dejection

Noun

Because so many of Gunn’s friends died in San Francisco, a city where Gunn had found happiness and freedom, then these elegies are also a monument to a time of communal sorrow and mourning.

— Colm Tóibín, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Another decision that those who are rejected face, at least if anger is mixed in with sorrow, is where to direct that anger.

— George Loewenstein, Vogue, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of sorrow

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“Melancholia.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melancholia. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of melancholia

noun

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