sadness

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   the feeling of being unhappy, especially because something bad has happened

   Grammar: Usually uncountable: 'a deep sadness', 'feelings of sadness'. Rarely countable in literary use.

   Patterns

   • a feeling of sadness
   • deep sadness
   • sadness at something
   • with sadness

   She felt a deep sadness after her grandfather died.

   There was sadness in his voice when he said goodbye.

   He looked at the old photos with sadness.

2. 2nouncountable

   a situation or event that causes people to feel unhappy

   Grammar: Countable when it means a particular sad thing or event.

   Patterns

   • a great sadness
   • one of the sadnesses of life

   The loss of the school was a great sadness for the village.

   It is one of the sadnesses of old age that friends move away.

Word forms

Common combinations

deep sadness

He felt deep sadness when he heard the news.

a sense of sadness

There was a sense of sadness in the room.

tears of sadness

She cried tears of sadness, not anger.

sadness at losing something

His sadness at losing the job lasted months.

express sadness

The president expressed sadness at the accident.

Synonyms and how they differ

unhappiness

Similar but more general and less emotional; it often describes a state rather than a feeling.

sorrow

Stronger and more literary; it suggests deep, lasting sadness, often after a death.

grief

Specifically the intense sadness you feel when someone dies; much stronger than sadness.

depression

A medical condition with lasting low mood; sadness is a normal emotion, not an illness.

Opposites

Word family

sad adjective

Feeling or showing unhappiness.

sadly adverb

In a sad way, or unfortunately.

sadden verb

To make someone feel sad.

Commonly confused: sadness or sad?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “sadness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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