UNHAPPINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unhappiness mean? 

• UNHAPPINESS (noun)
  The noun UNHAPPINESS has 2 senses:

1. emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being

2. state characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief

  Familiarity information: UNHAPPINESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNHAPPINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

sadness; unhappiness

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

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

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

dolefulness (sadness caused by grief or affliction)

heaviness (persisting sadness)

melancholy (a feeling of thoughtful sadness)

misery (a feeling of intense unhappiness)

desolation; forlornness; loneliness (sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned)

tearfulness; weepiness (sadness expressed by weeping)

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

regret; rue; ruefulness; sorrow (sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment)

cheerlessness; uncheerfulness (a feeling of dreary or pessimistic sadness)

depression (sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)

dejectedness; dispiritedness; downheartedness; low-spiritedness; lowness (a feeling of low spirits)

Derivation:

unhappy (generalized feeling of distress)

unhappy (experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

State characterized by emotions ranging from mild discontentment to deep grief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

emotional state; spirit (the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection))

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

embitterment (the state of being embittered)

sadness; sorrow; sorrowfulness (the state of being sad)

Antonym:

happiness (state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy)

Derivation:

unhappy (experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent)

 Context examples 

There is no appearance of unhappiness.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He was afraid of his family unhappiness being dragged before the world.

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

The progress of Catherine's unhappiness from the events of the evening was as follows.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

My dearest girl, dearer to me than anything in life, if you are unhappy, let me share your unhappiness.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Ah, said the father, I have nothing but unhappiness with you.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by it.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And all this has been going on at a time, when, as you know too well, it has not been my only unhappiness.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I talked to her repeatedly in the most serious manner, representing to her all the wickedness of what she had done, and all the unhappiness she had brought on her family.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

If I had followed her judgment, and subdued my spirits to the level of what she deemed proper, I should have escaped the greatest unhappiness I have ever known.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

"For my part, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur, if you will give me the heart."

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