Meaning & use
doleful
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Showing or feeling deep sadness, especially in the face or voice.
Grammar: Used before a noun (a doleful expression) or after a linking verb (she looked doleful).
Patterns
- a doleful expression
- a doleful voice
- look doleful
He gave a doleful sigh and stared out of the window.
The dog sat by the door with a doleful look.
Her doleful voice made everyone in the room feel quiet.
adjectivecomparable
Causing a feeling of sadness; dreary or mournful.
Grammar: Describes things like sounds, songs, or news that make people sad.
Patterns
- a doleful song
- a doleful sound
The doleful sound of the bell echoed through the empty streets.
They sang a doleful tune about leaving home.
Word forms
| comparative | more doleful |
|---|---|
| superlative | most doleful |
Common combinations
- doleful expression
- He had a doleful expression when he heard the news.
- doleful eyes
- The puppy looked up with doleful eyes.
- doleful sigh
- She let out a doleful sigh and turned away.
- doleful voice
- He spoke in a doleful voice, as if all hope was lost.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mournful
- Mournful suggests a deeper, more lasting sorrow, often connected to grief or loss, while doleful is more about a sad appearance or sound.
- sorrowful
- Sorrowful is a general word for feeling or showing sorrow; doleful often emphasizes the outward look or tone.
- woeful
- Woeful can also mean 'very bad' or 'pitiful', while doleful is mainly about sadness.
Opposites
Word family
- dolefully adverb
- In a sad or mournful way.
- dolefulness noun
- The quality of being sad or mournful.
Commonly confused: doleful or dole?
doleful vs dole
Dole is a noun meaning money given by the government to unemployed people, or a verb meaning to give out small amounts; it is not related in meaning to doleful.
Practice
Choose the correct word: After losing the game, the team walked off the field with ______ faces.
Choose one answer.
We need an adjective to describe 'faces', so 'doleful' is correct. 'Dolefully' is an adverb and would describe how they walked, not the faces. 'Dolefulness' is a noun and cannot directly modify 'faces'. 'Dole' is a different word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “doleful”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.