sorrowful

adjective

sor·row·ful ˈsär-(ˌ)ō-fəl

-ə-fəl,

ˈsȯr-

: full of or marked by sorrow

a sorrowful goodbye

: expressive of or inducing sorrow

sorrowful eyes

sorrowfully

ˈsär-(ˌ)ō-f(ə-)lē

-ə-f(ə-)lē

ˈsȯr-

adverb

sorrowfulness

ˈsär-(ˌ)ō-fəl-nəs

-ə-fəl-

ˈsȯr-

noun

Example Sentences

adopted a sorrowful tone of voice to read the news story about the former governor's death the cult seemed to be a sorrowful assemblage of emotionally scarred people seeking love and redemption

Recent Examples on the Web Season 4 gave Earn two monologues, one sorrowful, another romantic.

Darren Franich, EW.com, 14 Nov. 2022 Told in hauntingly elegiac prose, My Policeman—the book—is a sorrowful story about the ways in which expectations of conformity harm us all.

Keely Weiss, ELLE, 4 Nov. 2022 Like those last week in the Atlanta area, friends and family of the 10 dead in Boulder, who ranged in age from 20 to 65, are picking up the sorrowful litany of what was lost.

Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2021 The flood of sorrowful memories and admiring tributes for the late Elizabeth II recognizes her multigenerational effect as both a woman and the queen, Times writers Jaweed Kaleem and Tracy Wilkinson reported.

Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2022 The Braves said in a statement that the news was sorrowful.

Dennis Romero, NBC News, 12 Sep. 2022 In a tone more sorrowful than angry, Cox proclaimed his innocence and vowed to wage a vigorous defense.

Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2022 Only stand there for ages feeling profoundly sorrowful and impressively stoical.

Claire-louise Bennett, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022 Within the space of a close-up (the film was shot by Alfonso Herrera Salcedo), the sorrowful gleam in Faye’s eyes and the lines etched in her brow tell a moving and eloquent story, even before the movie itself makes some of that story explicit.

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sorrowful.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.