Meaning of Melancholy | Babel Free

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