Melancholy

Definitions

1. Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
   countable, historical, uncountable
2. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.”

“My mind⟳ was troubled with deep melancholy.”

“I have⟳ neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own⟳, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.”

“"The ancients referred melancholy to the mind⟳, the moderns make⟳ it matter⟳ of digestion—to either case my plan⟳ applies," said Lady Mandeville.”

“As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.”

CEFR level