Expressing or filled with sorrow and sadness; mournful and sorrowful in tone or manner.
From Old French 'doloros', derived from Latin 'dolorosus', which comes from 'dolor' meaning pain or sorrow. The word evolved through Romance languages to describe emotional pain rather than just physical pain.
This word is the tragic cousin of 'dolor'—while both describe sadness, 'dolorous' adds a theatrical, almost literary flair, which is why you'll often see it in poetry and dramatic writing rather than everyday conversation. It's the adjective Shakespeare would have used!
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