Melancholy, a.
1. Depressed in spirits; dejected; gloomy dismal. Shak.
2. Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event.
3. Somewhat deranged in mind; having the jugment impaired. [Obs.] Bp. Reynolds.
4. Favorable to meditation; somber. A pretty, melancholy seat, well wooded and watered. Evelin.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Gloomy; sad; dispirited; low-spirited; downhearted; unhappy; hypochondriac; disconsolate; heavy, doleful; dismal; calamitous; afflictive.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Melancholy, n.
1. Depression of spirits; a gloomy state continuing a considerable time; deep dejection; gloominess. Shak.
2. Great and continued depression of spirits, amounting to mental unsoundness; melancholia.
3. Pensive maditation; serious thoughtfulness. [Obs.] "Hail, divinest Melancholy !" Milton.
4. Ill nature. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for melancholy; he lists it under grief.
Where he writes about it:
Sorrow and grief are for definite cause; sadness and melancholy may arise from a vague sense of want or loss, from a low state of health, or other ill-defined cause; sadness may be momentary; melancholy is more enduring, and may become chronic. — from grief