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Melancholy vs Nihilism - What's the difference?

melancholy | nihilism |

As nouns the difference between melancholy and nihilism

is that melancholy is black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies while nihilism is a philosophical doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life.

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 .

    nihilism

    English

    Noun

  • (philosophy) A philosophical doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life.
  • (ethics) The rejection of inherent or objective moral principles.
  • (politics) The rejection of non-rationalized or non-proven assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
  • (politics, historical) A Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change.
  • The belief that all endeavors are ultimately futile and devoid of meaning.
  • "...the band members sweat hard enough to earn their pretensions, and maybe even their nihilism " (rock critic Dave Marsh, reviewing the band XTC's album Go )
  • Contradiction (not always deliberate) between behavior and espoused principle, to such a degree that all possible espoused principle is voided.
  • The deliberate refusal of belief, to the point that belief itself is rejected as untenable.
  • Derived terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Synonyms

    * (belief that all endeavours are void ) fatalism