SORROW

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sorrow mean? 

• SORROW (noun)
  The noun SORROW has 4 senses:

1. an emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement

2. sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment

3. something that causes great unhappiness

4. the state of being sad

  Familiarity information: SORROW used as a noun is uncommon.

• SORROW (verb)
  The verb SORROW has 1 sense:

1. feel grief

  Familiarity information: SORROW used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SORROW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Context example:

he tried to express his sorrow at her loss

Hypernyms ("sorrow" is a kind of...):

sadness; unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sorrow"):

broken heart (devastating sorrow and despair)

brokenheartedness; grief; heartache; heartbreak (intense sorrow caused by loss of a loved one (especially by death))

mournfulness; ruthfulness; sorrowfulness (a state of gloomy sorrow)

self-pity (a feeling of sorrow (often self-indulgent) over your own sufferings)

Antonym:

joy (the emotion of great happiness)

Derivation:

sorrow (feel grief)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

regret; rue; ruefulness; sorrow

Context example:

to his rue, the error cost him the game

Hypernyms ("sorrow" is a kind of...):

sadness; unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sorrow"):

attrition; contriteness; contrition (sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation)

compunction; remorse; self-reproach (a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed))

Derivation:

sorrow (feel grief)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something that causes great unhappiness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

grief; sorrow

Context example:

her death was a great grief to John

Hypernyms ("sorrow" is a kind of...):

negative stimulus (a stimulus with undesirable consequences)

Derivation:

sorrow (feel grief)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The state of being sad

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

sadness; sorrow; sorrowfulness

Context example:

she tired of his perpetual sadness

Hypernyms ("sorrow" is a kind of...):

unhappiness (state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sorrow"):

bereavement; mourning (state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one)

poignance; poignancy (a state of deeply felt distress or sorrow)

Derivation:

sorrow (feel grief)

• SORROW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sorrow    ... he / she / it sorrows   
Past simple: sorrowed   
Past participle: sorrowed   
-ing form: sorrowing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feel grief

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

grieve; sorrow

Hypernyms (to "sorrow" is one way to...):

suffer (experience (emotional) pain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sorrow"):

mourn (feel sadness)

compassionate; condole with; feel for; pity; sympathize with (share the suffering of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

Sam and Sue sorrow
Sam and Sue sorrow over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

sorrow (something that causes great unhappiness)

sorrow (an emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement)

sorrow (sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment)

sorrow (the state of being sad)

sorrower (a person who is feeling grief (as grieving over someone who has died))

 Context examples 

For why should I give myself so much of labour and so much of sorrow?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And yet, said Anne to herself, as they now moved forward to meet the party, he has not, perhaps, a more sorrowing heart than I have.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And yet she had some secret sorrow, this woman.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"It is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger, my heart begins to beat fast."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The woman has true sorrow for them, and often, because of them, the tears are in her eyes.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In spite of the new sorrow, it was a very happy time, so happy that Laurie could not bear to disturb it by a word.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If I showed any trace of what I felt, my own sorrows were sufficient to account for it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He sorrowed too loudly and woke up Grey Beaver, who beat him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They each felt his sorrows, and their own obligations, and Marianne, by general consent, was to be the reward of all.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Sorrow came—a gentle sorrow—but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)