different between melancholy vs pitiful

English

Alternative forms

• melancholly, melancholie, melancholious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from ????? (mélas), ?????- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + ???? (khol?, “bile”). Compare the Latin ?tra b?lis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mel?nk?li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?l.?n?k?l.i/

Noun

melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)

1. (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
   • , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:

     Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.

2. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, V. i. 34:

     My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act IV, Scene 1,^[1]

     I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

Translations

Adjective

melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)

1. (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.

Synonyms

• (thoughtful sadness): melancholic
• See also Thesaurus:sad

Translations

Related terms

• melancholic
• sadness
• melancholia

English

Alternative forms

• pitifull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful, equivalent to pity +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?t.?.fl?/

Adjective

pitiful (comparative pitifuller, superlative pitifullest)

1. (now rare) Feeling pity; merciful.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.

2. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lamentable

3. Of an amount or number: very small.

Related terms

• pitiable
• pity

Translations

Adverb

pitiful (comparative more pitiful, superlative most pitiful)

1. (colloquial, dialect) In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically.

Translations