Definition

Noun: 1. (Literary/Poetic) Painful grief; intense sorrow or distress. This word describes a deep, often mournful emotional suffering. It is primarily used in literary, poetic, or formal contexts to convey a profound sense of anguish.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The poem expresses the dolour of a nation after a great loss.
  • She bore her dolour with quiet dignity, her grief too deep for words.
  • In his sonnets, he often writes of the dolour of unrequited love.

Advanced Usage

• "Dolour of the soul": A phrase used to describe profound spiritual or emotional suffering.
  • The character's journey is one of deep dolour of the soul.
• "Full of dolour": An adjective-like phrase describing a state of being filled with sorrow.
  • Her voice was full of dolour as she recounted the tale.

Variants and Related Words

• Dolorous (adj): Feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress; mournful.
  • He spoke in a dolorous tone about the past.
• Dolor (n): An alternative, chiefly American English spelling of "dolour," with the same meaning.

Synonyms

• Anguish: Severe mental or physical pain or suffering.
• Grief: Deep sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.
• Sorrow: A feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune.
• Woe: Great sorrow or distress (also literary).
• Heartache: Emotional anguish or grief.

Antonyms

• Joy: A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
• Bliss: Perfect happiness; great joy.
• Elation: Great happiness and exhilaration.
• Jubilation: A feeling of great happiness and triumph.

Notes on Usage

• Register: is a formal, literary word. In everyday modern English, words like grief, sorrow, or anguish are more commonly used.
• Connotation: It carries a weightier, more poetic, and sometimes archaic connotation than its more common synonyms.

Noun

1. (poetry) painful grief