different between misfortune vs sorrow

English

Etymology

mis- +? fortune

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t?u?n/

Noun

misfortune (countable and uncountable, plural misfortunes)

1. (uncountable) Bad luck.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

   The worst tour I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

   It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. - Ulysses S. Grant

2. (countable) an undesirable event such as an accident
   • 1839, Charles Robert Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle., Chapter X

     The snowstorm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!

   She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes.

Synonyms

• (bad luck): mishap, misluck, mischance, ill luck, hard luck, tough luck, luckless
• (undesirable event): adversity, nakba

Antonyms

• (bad luck): luck, good luck, fortune, good fortune
• (undesirable event): fortuity

Related terms

• misfortunate

Translations

Anagrams

• uniformest

English

Etymology

From Middle English sorow, sorwe, from Old English sorg, from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surg? (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swerg?- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit ????????? (s??rk?ati, “worry”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: s?r'?, IPA^(key): /?s????/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??o?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?s??o?/
• Rhymes: -????

Noun

sorrow (countable and uncountable, plural sorrows)

1. (uncountable) unhappiness, woe
   • August 28, 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 47

     The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment.

2. (countable) (usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

sorrow (third-person singular simple present sorrows, present participle sorrowing, simple past and past participle sorrowed)

1. (intransitive) To feel or express grief.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 424:

     ‘Sorrow not, sir,’ says he, ‘like those without hope.’

2. (transitive) To feel grief over; to mourn, regret.

Derived terms

• besorrow

Translations

References

• “sorrow” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "sorrow" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.