melancholy

Definition of melancholy (Entry 1 of 2) 1a: depression of spirits : DEJECTION great outbursts of creativity alternate with feelings of extreme melancholy — Brenda Lane Richardson Mitchell sounds utterly alone in her melancholy, turning the sadness into tender art. — Rolling Stone b: a pensive mood a fine romantic kind of a melancholy on the fading of the year — Richard Holmes One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy. — Arthur Conan Doyle 2a: MELANCHOLIA sense 1 barchaic : an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression