Sorrow, n.
Etymology: [OE. sorwe, sorewe, sor, AS. sorg, sorh; akin to D. zorg care, anxiety, OS. sorga, OHG. sorga, soraga, suorga, G. sorge, Icel., Sw., & Dan. sorg, Goth. saúrga; of unknown origin.]
The uneasiness or pain of mind which is produced by the loss of any good, real or supposed, or by diseappointment in the expectation of good; grief at having suffered or occasioned evil; regret; unhappiness; sadness. Milton. How great a sorrow suffereth now Arcite! Chaucer. The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment. Rambler.
Syn. -- Grief; unhappiness; regret; sadness; heaviness; mourning; affliction. See Affliction, and Grief.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Sorrow, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sorrowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sorrowing.]
To feel pain of mind in consequence of evil experienced, feared, or done; to grieve; to be sad; to be sorry. Sorrowing most of all . . . that they should see his face no more. Acts xx. 38. I desire no man to sorrow for me. Sir J. Hayward.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for sorrow; he lists it under grief, misfortune, mourn, repentance.
Where he writes about it:
Grief is more acute and less enduring than sorrow. — from grief
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
Affliction expresses a deep heart-sorrow and is applied also to the misfortune producing such sorrow; mourning most frequently denotes sorrow publicly expressed, or the public expression of such sorrow as may reasonably be expected; as, it is common to observe thirty days of mourning on the death of an officer of state. — from grief
One may grieve or mourn, regret, rue, or sorrow without a sound; he bemoans with suppressed and often inarticulate sounds of grief; he bewails with passionate utterance, whether of inarticulate cries or of spoken words. — from mourn
Regret is sorrow for any painful or annoying matter. — from repentance
Repentance is sorrow for sin with self-condemnation, and complete turning from the sin. — from repentance
There may be sorrow without repentance, as for consequences only, but not repentance without sorrow. — from repentance
Contrition is a subduing sorrow for sin, as against the divine holiness and love. — from repentance