Sorrowful Meaning
/ˈsɔɹoʊfəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjexhibiting sorrow; dejected; distraught; sad. (of a person)
adjProducing sorrow; causing grief.
Sentence Examples
She looks sorrowful and forlorn.
In hard times, in sorrowful times, let's try doing something for other people.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ widow cried deeply for hours at her husband's funeral.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The artist's painting depicted a ____ scene of a lonely figure standing in the rain at twilight.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English sorweful, from Old English sorhful, sorgful (“full of care; anxious; sorrowful”), from Proto-Germanic *surgafullaz (“full of care; anxious”), equivalent to sorrow + -ful. Cognate with Old High German sorgfol (“careful; anxious”), Norwegian sorgfull (“sorrowful”), Icelandic sorgfullur (“lamentable”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades."
— 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ widow cried deeply for hours at her husband's funeral.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The artist's painting depicted a ____ scene of a lonely figure standing in the rain at twilight.