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Melancholy vs Anxiety - What's the difference?

melancholy | anxiety |

As nouns the difference between melancholy and anxiety

is that melancholy is (historical) black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies while anxiety is an unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event.

As an adjective melancholy

is affected with great sadness or depression.

melancholy

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Affected with great sadness or depression.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes

    Synonyms

    * (thoughtful sadness) (l) * See also

    Noun

    (melancholies)
  • (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
  • *, Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:
  • Melancholy , cold and dry, thick, black, and sour,is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.
  • Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
  • * 1593 , (William Shakespeare), , V. i. 34:
  • My mind was troubled with deep melancholy .

    anxiety

    Noun

    (anxieties)
  • An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=4 citation , passage=The inquest on keeper Davidson was duly held, and at the commencement seemed likely to cause Tony Palliser less anxiety than he had expected.}}
  • * 2005 , .
  • But the other, because he's been immersed in arguments, gives the appearance of harbouring considerable anxiety and suspicion that he's ignorant of those matters he presents himself to others as an expert on.
  • An uneasy or distressing desire (for something).
  • I was anxious to get into the office before Henderson called from New York.
  • (pathology) A state of restlessness and agitation, often accompanied by a distressing sense of oppression or tightness in the stomach.
  • Synonyms

    * care, solicitude, foreboding, uneasiness, perplexity, disquietude, disquiet, trouble, apprehension, restlessness, distress