From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmelancholymel‧an‧chol‧y1 /ˈmelənkəli $ -kɑːli/ adjective SAD/UNHAPPYvery sad The music suited her melancholy mood.
Examples from the Corpus
melancholy• He was much more content now, though melancholy about himself and what he'd come to.• It is a very beautiful instrument, chiefly used for solo work where a melancholy and expressive tone-quality is appropriate.• This melancholy contrast brought to our Southern sensibilities a touch of sadness.• For six weeks after our arrival it rained almost continually and the wind howled melancholy dirges around our chimneys and doors.• Driving over the white wooden bridge that led to the farm, I found I was nursing an odd, melancholy excitement.• a secretive, melancholy man• His songs were melancholy pictures of life and love and the evils of the consumer revolution.• She smiled a knowing, somewhat melancholy smile.• the melancholy tone of the poemmelancholymelancholy2 noun [uncountable] formalSAD/UNHAPPY a feeling of sadness for no particular reason → depression He sank into deep melancholy.Examples from the Corpus
melancholy• Jake was fourteen and suffering from adolescent melancholy.• Jacinto, too, describes his malaise and melancholy in speech typical of the Romantic mal du siecle.• Goya struggled with his feelings of deep melancholy.• He is rueful, polite, mildly disappointed, and afflicted by a low-key melancholy.• Lights began to go on in the dark houses, and I relished my melancholy to the last drop.• The Grand Duke's expression slowly changed to one of melancholy.• All that accentuated the swings of mood in a man capable of intense enjoyment but subject also to persistent melancholy.• So now Baez, who recently turned 55, has a sense of accomplishment and relief and even some melancholy.• In a mood of bitter-sweet melancholy, I walked back to the centre of Dublin.• He was a strange man, prone to melancholy and bouts of drinking.• Alone on the open desert, I have made up songs of wild, poignant rejoicing and transcendent melancholy.Origin melancholy2 (1300-1400) Old French melancolie, from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek, from melas “black” + chole “bile” 