plaintiveness

noun

as in melancholy

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plaintiveness
  1. melancholy
  2. mournfulness
  3. dejection
  4. sorrow
  5. gloom
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
  • Power Ballad should be breezy and fun, with that twist of mournfulness that Carney is always so adept at pulling off.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 May 2026
Definition of mournfulness
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
Noun
  • On Monday morning, however, a visible veil of grief and gloom took over the previous sheen.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026
  • And neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can save you now….
    — Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of gloom
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Plaintiveness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plaintiveness. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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