From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsaddensad‧den /ˈsædn/ verb [transitive] formal SAD/UNHAPPYto make someone feel sad Those who knew him are saddened by his death.it saddens somebody that It saddened him that they no longer trusted him. —saddening adjective→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
sadden• Those of us who knew him are shocked and saddened by his death.• Everyone was saddened by the news that housing is to be built on the fields beside Cliff Lane.• It does sadden him, but he believes that Juice will maybe explain a few of the pressures kids are under.• Sometimes it saddened him to think that he was no longer young.• It saddens me that there are people who go around vandalizing public places like this.it saddens somebody that• But it saddens me that people could send death threats because they don't agree with something. 