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Melancholy vs Bereft - What's the difference?

melancholy | bereft | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between melancholy and bereft

is that melancholy is affected with great sadness or depression while bereft is (of a person) pained by the loss of someone.

As a noun melancholy

is black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.

As a verb bereft is

past tense of bereave.

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 .

    Related terms

    * melancholic * sadness

    bereft

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (bereave)
    • bereft of strength – powerless
    bereft of gorm – in Yorkshire dialect – mindless one, idiot = gormless

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (of a person) pained by the loss of someone
  • * '>citation
  • deprived of, lacking, stripped of, robbed of
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=November 3 , author=David Ornstein , title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1–2 Stoke , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=The hosts had not lost in 12 home European games but looked shaky at the back and bereft of attacking ideas, inviting Stoke forward for further opportunities.}}
  • * {{quote-book, passage=And there I strove, and there I clove through the drift of icy streams; / And there I fought, and there I sought for the pay-streak of my dreams. ¶ So twenty years, with their hopes and fears and smiles and tears and such, / Went by and left me long bereft of hope of the Midas touch;
    • , title=(Ballads of a Cheechako) , chapter=(The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike) , author=Robert W. Service , year=1909}}
  • *
    • Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!