[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/doleful/)

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# doleful

adjective (doleful; more doleful, most doleful)

«doleful» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Very sad and gloomy, looking or sounding miserable. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#m1)
2. Causing sadness: «doleful news». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#m2)

### In the lessons

A feeling word in stories and poems. It paints sad faces, sad songs and sad sounds. In Alice in Wonderland the Mock Turtle sings in a doleful voice, and in The Wind in the Willows Toad is doleful in prison.

### Examples

- The puppy gave me a doleful look. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x1)
- The Mock Turtle sang a doleful song. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x2)
- Toad sat in his cell looking doleful. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x3)
- A doleful bell rang across the valley. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x4)
- He told the doleful story of his lost kite. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x5)
- The rain made the day feel doleful. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x6)
- It was really a doleful garden for a princess. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/#x7)

### Note

Adverb: dolefully. Similar: mournful, woeful, sorrowful. It sounds a little old-fashioned and literary.

## In Jewish tradition

A prophet says people will mourn bitterly when their land is taken away, as Micah foretells loss of land through exile. In the primary lessons: A feeling word in stories and poems. It paints sad faces, sad songs and sad sounds. In Alice in Wonderland the Mock Turtle sings in a doleful voice, and in The Wind in the Willows Toad is doleful in prison.

### Examples

- In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say: 'We are utterly ruined; he changeth the portion of my people; how doth he remove it from me! (Prophets MIC.2.4, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/doleful/#x1)

### Note

Adverb: dolefully. Similar: mournful, woeful, sorrowful. It sounds a little old-fashioned and literary.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «doleful» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/doleful/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«doleful» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/doleful.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «doleful» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/doleful/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«doleful» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/doleful.html) on Mova free.