Doleful

Definition: Doleful

Doleful

Adjective

1. Filled with or evoking sadness; "the child's doleful expression"; "stared with mournful eyes"; "mournful news".

Date "doleful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references)

Synonym: Doleful

Synonym: mournful (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Dejection	Sad, pensive, penseroso, tristful; dolesome, doleful; woebegone; lacrymose, lachrymose, in tears, melancholic, hypped, hypochondriacal, bilious, jaundiced, atrabilious, saturnine, splenetic; lackadaisical.
	Melancholy as a gib cat; oppressed with melancholy, a prey to melancholy; downcast, downhearted; down in the mouth, down in one;s luck; heavy-hearted; in the dumps, down in the dumps, in the suds, in the sulks, in the doldrums; in doleful dumps, in bad humor; sullen; mumpish, dumpish, mopish, moping; moody, glum; sulky; (discontented); out of sorts, out of humor, out of heart, out of spirits; ill at ease, low spirited, in low spirits, a cup too low; weary; discouraged, disheartened; desponding; chapfallen, chopfallen, jaw fallen, crest fallen.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Doleful

English words defined with "doleful": Dolesome ♦ Funest ♦ Jeremiade ♦ mournful. (references)

Specialty definitions using "doleful": Organ. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	A Doleful Kind of Singing (reference) U. S. and U. K. Unemployment Between the Wars: Doleful Story (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	Father Fauchelevent was uttering doleful groans.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Doleful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.41% of the time. "Doleful" is used about 63 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	98.41%	62	42,755
Noun (proper)	1.59%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	63	N/A

Expression using "doleful": doleful creatures. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "doleful": doleful-looking.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "doleful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		i trishtuar (blue, cheerless, comfortless, dark, disappointed, disappointing, down, dreary, elegiac, funereal, gloomy, grievous, joyless, lugubrious, melancholy, minor, mirthless, miserable, mopish, mournful, pensive, rueful, sad, tristful, unhappy, vapoury, wailful, wan, wistful, woebegone, woeful, woesome), i hidhëruar (bitter, dejected, disappointed, distressed, distressful, sorrowful, sorry), i brengosur (chill, dejected, depressed, despondent, grievous, sad, sorry, unhappy). (various references)

Arabic		‏كئيب (bleak, blue, cheerless, damp, dark, dejected, depressed, depressing, depressive, desolate, disconsolate, dismal, dispirited, distressful, distressing, dolorous, down, downcast, down-hearted, drear, dreary, droopy, dyspeptic, funeral, funereal, gloomy, glum, gray, grey, grief-stricken, grieved, grievous, heavy-hearted, ill, joyless, leaden, lifeless, low-spirited, melancholic, melancholy, moody, mournful, out of spirits, rueful, sad, saddening, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, tearful, weary), ‏محزن (depressing, dismal, distressing, dolorous, gloomy, grievous, mournful, pathetic, rueful, sad, saddening, sorrowful, tragic, woeful), ‏حزين (afflicted, cheerless, dejected, depressed, dolorous, downcast, drear, dreary, lamentable, lugubrious, melancholic, miserable, mournful, pathetic, plaintive, rueful, sad, sore, sorrowful, sorry, sullen, unhappy, wailful, weary, wistful, woeful). (various references)

Bulgarian		скръбен (mournful, sad, woeful), тъжен (bleak, cheerless, desolate, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, dull, dusky, elegiac, gloomy, heavy, joyless, lonesome, lugubrious, melancholy, minor, mirthless, mournful, pensive, plaintive, sad, sick, sickly, sorrowful, tristful, wan, wistful, woebegone, woeful), горестен. (various references)

Chinese		施舍 (Bestowment, Doled, Doling). (various references)

Czech		zkormoucený (dejected, downcast), unylý, smutný (dismal, distressing, elegiac, gloomy, miserable, plaintive, sad, sorrowful, tearful, unhappy, upset, woeful, woesome). (various references)

French		dolent, plaintif (dolorous), morne (dolorous, in the doldrums). (various references)

German		traurig (baleful, balefully, blue, cheerless, dismal, funereal, gaunt, lugubrious, lugubriously, miserable, mournful, mournfully, notorious, pathetic, plaintively, sad, sadly, sorrowful, sorrowfully, sorry, unhappy, upsetting), trübsinnig (blue, cheerless, dismal, dolefully, gloomy, glum, hangdog, melancholy, morbid). (various references)

Greek		πονεμένοσ (sore), λυπηρόσ (baleful, grievous, mournful, regrettable, sad, sorrowful, sorry), θλιβερόσ (afflictive, bleak, dolourous, drear, dreary, grievous, lugubrious, pathetical, rueful, woeful). (various references)

Hebrew		ע�'ום (bleak, cheerless, disconsolate, dismal, dusky, funereal, gloomy, morose, mournful, rueful, sorrowful, sullen), �"ווי (mournful, sad, sorrowful). (various references)

Hungarian		gyászos (calamitous, elegiac, funereal, gray, grey, grim, lugubrious, mournful, rueful, tragic). (various references)

Indonesian		susah (difficult, hard). (various references)

Italian		triste (black, bleak, blue, blue-deviled, blue-devilled, cheerless, dark, dejected, disconsolate, dismal, dreary, dull, dusky, gaunt, gloomy, heavy, hipped, lachrymose, miserable, moody, moped, sad, somber, sombre, sorrowful, sorry, sullen, unhappy, wan, woebegone), malinconico (dismal, gloomy, hipped, melancholic, melancholy, morose, pensive, sad, saturnine, somber, sombre, wistful, wistfully). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		黯然たる (tearful), �"�れっぽい (piteous, plaintive). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		あわれっぽい (piteous, plaintive), あ�"ぜ�"たる (tearful). (various references)

Manx		treih-hrimshagh (deplorable, lamentable), sou-aignagh (anxious, contrite, dejected, despondent, mirthless). (various references)

Pig Latin		olefulday

Portuguese		doloroso (agonizing, bitter, distressing, dolorous, grievous, painful, sad, salt, sore, sorrowful, trying), triste (bleak, blue, broken-hearted, cheerless, dark, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, dreary, dumpish, dumpy, gaunt, gloomily, gray, grey, joyless, lonesome, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, miserable, misty, moody, mopish, mourning, pained, painful, pensive, piteous, sad, saturnine, somber, sombre, sore, sorrowful, sorry, tearful, tristful, unhappy, upset), sombrio (abstruse, adust, bleak, bowery, cheerless, cloudy, dark, darkling, darksome, dim, dingy, dismal, dreary, dun, dusk, dusky, ebon, funereal, fuscous, gaunt, gloomily, gloomy, glum, grave, hard-headed, lowering, mirk, miserable, misty, morose, murk, murky, obscure, opaque, overcast, sable, sad, saturnine, shadowy, somber, sombre, stygian, umbrageous), queixoso (complainant, demandant, plaintiff, plaintive, wailful), lúgubre (dire, dreary, eery, funereal, gaunt, lugubrious, lurid, mournful, murky, sable). (various references)

Romanian		duios (affectionate, dearly, endearing, fond, loving, pathetic, pathetically, soft, sorrowful, sweet, tender), trist (bleak, blue, cheerless, dark, darkish, depressing, dispirited, dolefully, dolorous, downcast, drab, dreary, dull, dumpish, elegiac, glum, joyless, lamenting, maudlin, melancholy, miserable, mournful, mournfully, pensive, pensively, rueful, sad, sadly, sorrowful, splenetic, sullen, tough, unfortunate, unhappy, woebegone, woeful), melancolic (gloomily, gloomy, languorously, melancholically, melancholy, pensive, pensively, sad, somber, sombre, splenetic, wistful), jalnic (beggarly, deplorable, distressing, forlorn, heart rending, lamentable, lamentably, lamenting, mangy, mean, miserable, miserably, mournful, pathetic, pathetically, piteous, pitiable, plaintive, rueful, ruefully, sad, sorrowful, sorry, squalid, woeful, wretched), elegiac (elegiac). (various references)

Russian		скорбный (mournful, sorrowful, woeful). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		tužan (disappointing, dismal, distressed, distressful, distressing, dumpish, elegiac, funereal, grievous, joyless, lamentable, lugubrious, mirthless, plaintive, sad, tearful, unhappy, wailful, woeful, woesome), setan (melancholy, tristful). (various references)

Spanish		triste (bleak, blue, cheerless, dark, depressing, dismal, dolorous, drear, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, glum, heavy, hipped, joyless, joylessly, mirthless, miserable, mournful, rueful, sad, somber, sorrowful, sorry, sullen, unhappy). (various references)

Swedish		dyster (angry, beetle-browed, black, bleak, blue, cloudy, dark, darksome, disconsolate, dismal, dreary, funereal, gloomy, glum, grave, heavy, humpy, in the doldrums, lugubrious, morose, murky, sad, saturnine, sepulchral), sorgsen (dismal, gaunt, miserable, mournful, plaintive, sad, sorrowful), sorglig (dismal, dolorous, funereal, grievous, heartbreaking, heart-breaking, lachrymose, lamentable, lugubrious, mournful, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, sad, sorrowful, sorry, woeful, woesome). (various references)

Thai		เสียใจมาก. (various references)

Turkish		keyifsiz (ailing, blue, cheerless, dejected, dispirited, down, humorless, humourless, in the doldrums, indisposed, mean, off color, off colour, out of humor, out of humour, out of sorts, poor spirited, poorly, queer, seedy, sick, under the weather, unwell), kederli (broken hearted, chapfallen, dejected, depressed, dismal, dolorous, drear, dreary, heartsick, heartsore, heavy-hearted, low-spirited, mournful, pained, rueful, sick at heart, sorrowful, unhappy, woeful), kasvetli (black, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, depressive, dismal, drear, dreary, funereal, gloomy, grave, howling, lugubrious, melancholy, mopish, muzzy, pitchy, sable, sad, somber, sombre, sullen, tenebrous, waste), hüzünlü (blue, cheerless, depressing, downcast, dreary, elegiac, funereal, gloomy, glum, melancholic, rueful, sad, somber, sombre, sorrowful). (various references)

Ukrainian		сумний (afflictive, baleful, cheerless, comfortless, damp, dark, deplorable, despondent, dismal, drear, dreary, dumpish, dumpy, elegiac, elegiacal, grievous, heavy-hearted, joyless, lamentable, lugubrious, maddening, melancholy, mournful, overcast, plaintive, regrettable, rueful, sad, sorrowful, unhappy, wailful, wan), хитрий (arch, argute, artful, astute, canny, cattish, crafty, cunning, devious, enterprising, foxy, hard-headed, leery, pawky, shifting, shrewd, sly, tricky, wide, wily). (various references)

Welsh		wylofus (tearful, wailing). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	dolere, flebili, flebilis. (various references)
Late Latin	300-700	dolus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Isaiah Chapter 13, Verse 21
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Kai anapausontai ekei qhria kai emplhsqhsontai ai oikiai hcou kai anapausontai ekei seirhneV kai daimonia ekei orchsontai
Latin	405	Vulgate	Sed requiescent ibi bestiae et replebuntur domus eorum draconibus et habitabunt ibi strutiones et pilosi saltabunt ibi
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	But shul reste there bestes, and shul be fulfild the houses of them with dragownes; and ther shul dwelle there ostriches, and wodewoses shul lepe there.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	But the beasts of the waste land will have their holes there; and the houses will be full of crying jackals, and ostriches will have their place there, and evil spirits will be dancing there.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Isaiah Chapter 13, Verse 21
Cebuano	Apan ang ihalas nga mga mananap sa kamingawan mao ang mohigda didto; ug ang ilang mga kabalayan mangapuno sa makalolooy nga mga binuhat; ug managpuyo didto ang mga avestruz, ug ang mga kanding ihalas managlukso didto.
Croatian	Poèivat æe ondje zvijeri pustinjske, sove æe im napuniti kuæe, nojevi æe ondje stanovati, jarci plesati.
Danish	men Vildkatte lejrer sig der, og Husene fyldes med Ugler; der holder Strudsene til, og Bukketroldene springer;
Dutch	Maar daar zullen nederliggen de wilde dieren der woestijnen, en hun huizen zullen vervuld worden met schrikkelijke gedierten, en daar zullen de jonge struisen wonen, en de duivelen zullen er huppelen.
Finnish	Erämaan eläimet lepäävät siellä, sen huoneet ovat täynnä huuhkajia, kamelikurjet asuvat siellä, ja metsänpeikot siellä hyppelevät.
French	Les animaux du désert y prendront leur gîte, Les hiboux rempliront ses maisons, Les autruches en feront leur demeure Et les boucs y sauteront.
German	sondern Wüstentiere werden sich da lagern, und ihre Häuser sollen voll Eulen sein, und Strauße werden da wohnen, und Feldgeister werden da hüpfen
Haitian Creole	Se la tout bèt nan bwa pral rete. Koukou pral fè nich nan tout kay yo. Se la otrich pral fè kay yo. Se la kabrit mawon pral danse kalenda.
Hungarian	Hanem vadak tanyáznak ott, és baglyok töltik be házaikat, és struczok laknak ott, és bakok szökdelnek ott;
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Tempat itu akan didiami binatang-binatang liar. Burung hantu akan bersarang di rumah-rumah mereka, dan burung unta akan tinggal di sana. Kambing-kambing liar akan berjingkrak-jingkrak di antara reruntuhan.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Melainkan di sana akan berjungkang segala margasatwa dari gurun dan rumah-rumahnya akan dipenuhi dengan binatang yang hebat, dan anak burung unta akan diam di sana dan segala syaitanpun akan bertempala di sana.
Italian	Ma vi si stabiliranno gli animali del deserto, i gufi riempiranno le loro case, vi faranno dimora gli struzzi, vi danzeranno i s� tiri.
Maori	Engari hei takotoranga a reira mo nga kuri mahoao o te koraha; ka ki hoki o ratou whare i nga kararehe pouri; a ka nohoia a reira e nga otereti, ka waiho hoki hei tupekepeketanga mo nga mea ahua koati.
Norwegian	Men ørkenens dyr skal hvile der, og dets hus skal være fulle av ugler, og strutser skal bo der, og raggete troll hoppe omkring der.
Portuguese	Mas as feras do deserto repousarão ali, e as suas casas se encherão de horríveis animais; e ali habitarão as avestruzes, e os sátiros pularão ali.
Rumanian	ci fiarele pustiei kwi vor face culcuwul acolo, bufniyele ki vor umplea casele, struyii vor locui acolo, wi stafiile se vor juca acolo.
Russian	оП �'Х�"ХФ П�'ЙФБФШ Ч ОЕН ЪЧЕТЙ � ХУФЩОЙ, Й �"ПНЩ ОБ� ПМОСФУС ЖЙМЙОБНЙ; Й УФТБХУЩ � ПУЕМСФУС, Й ЛПУНБФЩЕ �'Х�"ХФ УЛБЛБФШ ФБН.
Spanish	Pero allí se recostarán las fieras del desierto, y sus casas se llenarán de búhos. Allí habitarán las avestruces, y allí danzarán los chivos salvajes.
Swedish	Nej, öknens djur skola lägra sig där, och dess hus skola fyllas av uvar; strutsar skola bo där, och gastar skola hoppa där.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "doleful": dolefuller, dolefullest, dolefully, dolefulness, dolefulnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Doleful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Doeuff, dolefule, dolefull, Dollfus, noseful, tilleul. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "doleful" (pronounced dō"lful)
5	-ō" l f u l	soulful.
4	-l f u l	baleful, skillful, willful.
3	-f u l	apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, bashful, beautiful, blissful, boastful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disgraceful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fearful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forceful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, houseful, hurtful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, purposeful, raffle, regretful, remorseful, resentful, reshuffle, resourceful, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, sorrowful, spiteful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tactful, tasteful, tearful, thankful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, watchful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful, zestful.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "d-e-f-l-l-o-u"
	-1 letter: duello, fouled, fulled.
	-2 letters: flued.
	-3 letters: delf, dell, dole, doll, duel, dull, fell, feod, feud, fled, floe, flue, fold, foul, fuel, full, leud, lode, loud, lude.
	-4 letters: del, doe, dol, due, duo, eld, elf, ell, fed, feu, flu, foe, fou, fud, led, leu, ode, old, ole, oud, udo.
	-5 letters: de, do, ed, ef, el, lo.
	Words containing the letters "d-e-f-l-l-o-u"
	+2 letters: dolefully.
	+3 letters: dolefuller.
	+4 letters: dolefullest, dolefulness, flocculated, fullmouthed, polysulfide, wonderfully.
	+5 letters: polysulfides.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.