different between heaviness vs mourning

English

Etymology

From Middle English hevinesse, from Old English hefi?nes (“heaviness”). Equivalent to heavy +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?v?n?s/

Noun

heaviness (countable and uncountable, plural heavinesses)

1. The state of being heavy; weight, weightiness, force of impact or gravity.
2. (archaic) Oppression; dejectedness, sadness; low spirits.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:

     First got with guile, and then preseru'd with dread, / And after spent with pride and lauishnesse, / Leauing behind them griefe and heauinesse.
3. (obsolete) Drowsiness.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     Miranda: The strangeness of your story put / Heaviness in me.

Translations

Anagrams

• evanishes

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/; (rare) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/; (rare) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?mo(?)?n??/; (rare) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?mo?n??/; (rare) IPA^(key): /?m??n??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n??
• Homophones: morning (accents with the horse–hoarse merger), moaning (accents with the dough–door merger)

Verb

mourning

1. present participle of mourn

Noun

mourning (countable and uncountable, plural mournings)

1. The act of expressing or feeling sorrow or regret; lamentation.
2. Feeling or expressing sorrow over someone's death.
   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 23

     "My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it."
3. The traditional clothes worn by those who mourn (in Western societies, typically coloured black).
   • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 88:

     ‘I'm bored. I can't go out anywhere because it's too soon and I have to wear this disgusting mourning.’

4. Drapes or coverings associated with mourning.

   • The houses to their tops with black were spread, / And ev'n the pavements were with mourning hid.

Derived terms

• national mourning

Translations