SORROW: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for SORROW?

Need another word that means the same as “sorrow”? Find 66 synonyms and 30 related words for “sorrow” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Sorrow” are: grief, regret, rue, ruefulness, sadness, sorrowfulness, unhappiness, dejection, depression, misery, cheerlessness, downheartedness, despondency, despair, desolation, wretchedness, glumness, gloom, gloominess, heaviness of heart, dolefulness, melancholy, low spirits, mournfulness, woe, heartache, trouble, difficulty, problem, adversity, affliction, trial, tribulation, misfortune, reverse of fortune, misadventure, mishap, stroke of bad luck, setback, reverse, blow, failure, accident, disaster, tragedy, catastrophe, calamity, grieve, be sad, feel sad, be miserable, be despondent, suffer, ache, agonize, anguish, be wretched, be dejected, be heavy of heart, pine, weep, shed tears, mourn, lament, wail

Sorrow as a Noun

Definitions of "Sorrow" as a noun

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “sorrow” as a noun can have the following definitions:

• Sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment.
• The state of being sad.
• A feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.
• The outward expression of grief; lamentation.
• Something that causes great unhappiness.
• An event or circumstance that causes sorrow.
• An emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement.

Synonyms of "Sorrow" as a noun (47 Words)

accident	A crash involving road or other vehicles. He had a little accident but I washed his shorts out.
adversity	A stroke of ill fortune; a calamitous event. Resilience in the face of adversity.
affliction	An instance of one celestial body afflicting another. Poor people in great affliction.
blow	An act of blowing an instrument. He gave his nose a loud blow.
calamity	An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster. Emergency measures may be necessary in order to avert a calamity.
catastrophe	Something very unfortunate or unsuccessful. Inaction will only bring us closer to catastrophe.
cheerlessness	A feeling of dreary or pessimistic sadness.
dejection	A state of melancholy depression. He was slumped in deep dejection.
depression	A period during the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment. Hurricanes start off as loose regions of bad weather known as tropical depressions.
desolation	The state of being decayed or destroyed. The stony desolation of the desert.
despair	The complete loss or absence of hope. A voice full of self hatred and despair.
despondency	Low spirits from loss of hope or courage; dejection. An air of despondency.
difficulty	A condition or state of affairs almost beyond one’s ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome. Had difficulty walking.
disaster	Denoting a genre of films that use natural or accidental catastrophe as the mainspring of plot and setting. Reduced legal aid could spell financial disaster.
dolefulness	Sadness caused by grief or affliction.
downheartedness	A feeling of low spirits.
failure	A person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently. That year there was a crop failure.
gloom	A dark or shady place. Gloom pervaded the office.
gloominess	An atmosphere of depression and melancholy.
glumness	An atmosphere of depression and melancholy.
grief	Something that causes great unhappiness. Time heals griefs and quarrels.
heartache	Emotional anguish or grief, typically caused by the loss or absence of someone loved. The familiar pang of heartache.
heaviness of heart	Persisting sadness.
low spirits	An air mass of lower pressure; often brings precipitation.
melancholy	A humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy. He had an ability to convey a sense of deep melancholy and yearning through much of his work.
misadventure	An instance of misfortune. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.
misery	A state or feeling of great physical or mental distress or discomfort. The misery of the miner s existence.
misfortune	An unfortunate condition or event. Never laugh at other people s misfortunes.
mishap	An instance of misfortune. The event passed without mishap.
mournfulness	The passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief.
problem	A source of difficulty. Urban problems such as traffic congestion and smog.
regret	A feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over an occurrence or something that one has done or failed to do. Please give your grandmother my regrets.
reverse	A play in which a player reverses the direction of attack by passing the ball to a teammate moving in the opposite direction. The gall actuates a reverse of photosynthesis.
reverse of fortune	Turning in the opposite direction.
rue	Compassion; pity. Tears of pitying rue.
ruefulness	Sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment.
sadness	Emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being. She tired of his perpetual sadness.
setback	An unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating. They had to get permission to overlap the city s setback lines.
sorrowfulness	An emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement.
stroke of bad luck	A light touch.
tragedy	An event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. Greek tragedy.
trial	(law) the determination of a person’s innocence or guilt by due process of law. He called each flip of the coin a new trial.
tribulation	An annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event. The tribulations of being a megastar.
trouble	An effort that is inconvenient. She s not the first girl who s got herself into trouble.
unhappiness	State characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief. I ve seen too much unhappiness caused by broken marriages.
woe	Intense mournfulness. The Everton tale of woe continued.
wretchedness	The character of being uncomfortable and unpleasant. The grey wretchedness of the rain.

Usage Examples of "Sorrow" as a noun

• It was a great sorrow to her when they separated.
• He tried to express his sorrow at her loss.
• A bereaved person needs time to work through their sorrow.
• He drank to drown his sorrows.

Sorrow as a Verb

Definitions of "Sorrow" as a verb

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “sorrow” as a verb can have the following definitions:

• Feel or display deep distress.
• Feel grief.

Synonyms of "Sorrow" as a verb (19 Words)

ache	Feel physical pain. My legs ached from the previous day s exercise.
agonize	Cause to agonize. I didn t agonize over the problem.
anguish	Cause emotional anguish or make miserable. I spent the next two weeks anguishing about whether I d made the right decision.
be dejected	Have an existence, be extant.
be despondent	Work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function.
be heavy of heart	Happen, occur, take place.
be miserable	Be priced at.
be sad	Have life, be alive.
be wretched	Be priced at.
despair	Lose or be without hope. We should not despair.
feel sad	Examine by touch.
grieve	Feel intense sorrow about. It grieves me to think of you in that house alone.
lament	Regret strongly. We lamented the death of the child.
mourn	Observe the customs of mourning after the death of a loved one. Isobel mourned her husband.
pine	Have a desire for something or someone who is not present.
shed tears	Get rid of.
suffer	Undergo or suffer. His relationship with Anne did suffer.
wail	Utter a wail. But why she wailed.
weep	Mourn for; shed tears over. She rubbed the sore making it weep.

Usage Examples of "Sorrow" as a verb

• A woman had cried all night, sorrowing over the death of her husband.

Associations of "Sorrow" (30 Words)

affliction	An instance of one celestial body afflicting another. A crippling affliction of the nervous system.
bemoan	Express discontent or sorrow over (something. It was no use bemoaning her lot.
deplorable	Deserving strong condemnation; completely unacceptable. A deplorable act of violence.
deplore	Regret strongly. We deplore the government s treatment of political prisoners.
despair	Abandon hope; give up hope; lose heart. In despair I hit the bottle.
dirge	A lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral rite. The wind howled dirges around the chimney.
dithyramb	A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing.
doleful	Filled with or evoking sadness. He could be struck off with doleful consequences.
elegiac	Verses in an elegiac metre. She watched repeat serials fixed on their moody and elegiac characterization.
elegy	(in Greek and Latin verse) a poem written in elegiac couplets, as notably by Catullus and Propertius.
grief	Intense sorrow, especially caused by someone’s death. Her death was a great grief to John.
grieve	Cause great distress to (someone. It grieves me to think of you in that house alone.
grievous	Shockingly brutal or cruel. His death was a grievous blow.
lament	A mournful poem a lament for the dead. We lamented the death of the child.
lamentable	(of circumstances or conditions) very bad; deplorable. Her open prejudice showed lamentable immaturity.
lamentation	The passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping. Scenes of lamentation.
melancholy	Having a feeling of melancholy sad and pensive. The melancholy tone of her writing.
mourn	Observe the customs of mourning after the death of a loved one. Publishers mourned declining sales of hardback fiction.
mournful	Filled with or evoking sadness. Stared with mournful eyes.
mourning	The passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief. She s still in mourning after the death of her husband.
nostalgia	Something done or presented in order to evoke feelings of nostalgia. An evening of TV nostalgia.
pitiful	Very small or poor; inadequate. Pitiful exhibition of cowardice.
requiem	A musical composition setting parts of a requiem Mass or of a similar character. He designed the epic as a requiem for his wife.
rue	Compassion; pity. To his rue the error cost him the game.
sad	Of things that make you feel sad. A sad day for us all.
sadness	Emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being. A source of great sadness.
sorrowful	Causing grief. The sorrowful news of his father s death.
sorry	Bad; unfortunate. A sorry horse.
threnody	A lament. A brooding threnody to urban desolation.
wail	Utter a wail. But why she wailed.