Meaning & use
melancholic
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Feeling a quiet, reflective sadness that lingers, often without a clear cause.
Grammar: Can follow a linking verb or come before a noun: he felt melancholic; a melancholic mood.
Patterns
- feel melancholic
- melancholic about something
He grew melancholic as he looked through his old school photographs.
The rainy afternoon left her in a melancholic mood.
She felt melancholic about leaving the town where she grew up.
adjectivebefore a noun
Expressing or causing a gentle, thoughtful sadness, as music, art or scenery can.
Grammar: Often placed before a noun: a melancholic tune.
Patterns
- a melancholic song
The cellist played a slow, melancholic melody.
The film ends with a melancholic view of the empty harbor.
Word forms
| comparative | more melancholic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most melancholic |
Common combinations
- melancholic mood
- A melancholic mood settled over the party as it ended.
- melancholic tune
- The violin played a melancholic tune.
- feel melancholic
- I feel melancholic every autumn.
- melancholic expression
- His melancholic expression made me ask what was wrong.
- strangely melancholic
- The empty playground looked strangely melancholic.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sad
- Sad is the plain everyday word for any unhappiness, while melancholic suggests a quieter, more thoughtful and lasting mood.
- wistful
- Wistful has a gentle longing for something lost, whereas melancholic is a broader sadness.
- gloomy
- Gloomy is darker and more hopeless, while melancholic can feel almost beautiful.
- mournful
- Mournful points to open grief over a loss, while melancholic is softer and less sharply focused.
Opposites
Word family
- melancholy noun
- a deep, lasting sadness
- melancholy adjective
- sad in a thoughtful way, a more common form than melancholic
- melancholia noun
- an older word for serious depression
- melancholically adverb
- in a sad, thoughtful way
Commonly confused: melancholic or melancholy? melancholic or melodic?
melancholic vs melancholy
Melancholy is both a noun and an adjective and is more common in everyday English than melancholic.
melancholic vs melodic
Melodic means pleasant in tune and has no connection with sadness, though both words relate to music.
Practice
Which sentence uses melancholic correctly?
Choose one answer.
Melancholic describes a quiet, thoughtful sadness, which a nostalgic old song can cause. The other sentences describe joy or give no sense of sadness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “melancholic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.