1
: expressing sorrow : sorrowful
2
: full of sorrow : sad
3
: causing sorrow or melancholy : gloomy
mournfulness
noun
Examples of mournful in a Sentence
she had such a mournful expression that someone teasingly asked if her dog had died
the mournful survivors of the disaster were faced with the grim task of burying the dead
Recent Examples on the Web
The mournful notes of taps echoed through rainy Bronx neighborhood Thursday afternoon as six New York Police Department officers shouldered the casket of one of their own: Officer Didarul Islam.
—
Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 31 July 2025
This second feature from filmmaker Frederik Louis Hviid is well-paced, tense, lovely to look at, and threaded through with a mournful realism.
—Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 21 July 2025
On paper, there’s nothing wrong with making a purposefully not-fun extension of the Donner films, but Superman Returns never truly escapes the strangeness of creating a mournful victory lap of films that the director and cast had nothing to do with.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 11 July 2025
Joining in the festivities is outgoing French student Chloé (Cécile Matignon, hugely appealing), ostensibly in a relationship but flirting brazenly with Nicolau, who even after a few beers is too mournful to pick up the signals.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mournful
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Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 31 July 2025
This second feature from filmmaker Frederik Louis Hviid is well-paced, tense, lovely to look at, and threaded through with a mournful realism.
—Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 21 July 2025
On paper, there’s nothing wrong with making a purposefully not-fun extension of the Donner films, but Superman Returns never truly escapes the strangeness of creating a mournful victory lap of films that the director and cast had nothing to do with.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 11 July 2025
Joining in the festivities is outgoing French student Chloé (Cécile Matignon, hugely appealing), ostensibly in a relationship but flirting brazenly with Nicolau, who even after a few beers is too mournful to pick up the signals.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mournful
Cite this Entry
“Mournful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mournful. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mournful
adjective
mourn·ful
ˈmō(ə)rn-fəl 
ˈmȯ(ə)rn-
1
: expressing or full of sorrow : sorrowful
a mournful face
2
: causing sorrow
a mournful story
mournfulness
noun
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