How to Use melancholy in a Sentence

melancholy

1 of 2 noun
  • There’s a deep melancholy to this episode that is hard to work through at first.
    — Cate Young, Vulture, 27 May 2021
  • Her hair is pulled back, her arms crossed against the cold, her face melancholy.
    — The New York Review of Books, 9 May 2019
  • What makes the piece so striking is the grandeur, and the huge melancholy of it.
    — Jesse Hamlin, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 June 2018
  • There’s a sense of melancholy in all your work, from your shorts to your features.
    — Rafael Motamayor, Vulture, 18 Apr. 2023
  • And the city welcomed it, wrestled a steady heat from my melancholy.
    — Megan Fernandes, The New Yorker, 29 June 2020
  • Yet there’s hope among the broad strokes of fantasy and melancholy here.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Their works share a melancholy woven from chiaroscuro — the play of light and shadow.
    — Cate McQuaid, BostonGlobe.com, 11 July 2023
  • Building around him, only to lose him, sent waves of melancholy through the team.
    — Jonathan Clegg, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Many of the customers were wearing masks; and there was a hint of melancholy in the air.
    — Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 19 Aug. 2021
  • The film is laced with dry humor but also poignancy and notes of melancholy.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2024
  • Once a cure for melancholy, the National now feel like a cause.
    — James Robins, Vulture, 1 May 2023
  • While very much a feel-good movie, there’s a wistful melancholy that ebbs and flows throughout as well.
    — Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 10 Nov. 2021
  • At first, her most troubling moods were described by Ernie as bouts of melancholy.
    — Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 16 Apr. 2021
  • Despite the faint air of melancholy, a raucous good time was had during the two-hour show.
    — Donna Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, 28 June 2019
  • But even the masks that Ruiz and his relatives wore couldn’t hide their melancholy.
    — Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2021
  • Listen to each proclamation of mirth and melancholy, love and hate.
    — Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024
  • With happy days unclear again, here are the books to lift your spirits or match your melancholy.
    — vanityfair.com, 21 Feb. 2017
  • Even so, Blackk has so much feeling in his eyes, filling the screen with his melancholy.
    — Jourdain Searles, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Feb. 2023
  • The end of a film festival always fills me with an equal sense of relief and melancholy.
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Guadagnino wanted the solitude and melancholy of the landscape to set the tone of the film.
    — Harper's BAZAAR, 19 Jan. 2023
  • Monk’s dominant energy at this point in the film is a jovial melancholy.
    — Harmony Holiday, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2023
  • The knocking pulse of the song and airy background vocals belie its melancholy.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 23 June 2023
  • Some artist types may posture that clouds add texture, depth, and a note of majestic melancholy.
    — Craig Thomas, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2022
  • This pet-friendly brewery assures that even if the breakup stirs up some melancholy, man’s best friend won’t be far away.
    — The Indianapolis Star, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Mulligan still does her best to imbue damsel with a deeper melancholy, but the script doesn’t give her much to work with.
    — Janey Tracey, EW.com, 29 Feb. 2024
  • To live the goth lifestyle is to reject the mainstream and embrace a bit of darkness and melancholy.
    — Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 21 Feb. 2024
  • The excitement that had hung in the air was replaced by a fuzzy melancholy, and sadness for something lost.
    — Redbook, 30 May 2017
  • Even in the maternity ward, the sight of women cradling babies roused the old melancholy.
    — Washington Post, 6 May 2022
  • But also like Death Cab, the band shows flashes of that early melancholy.
    — Rory Appleton, The Indianapolis Star, 16 Mar. 2023
  • The Irish melancholy will join me tomorrow, no less real than the food we’re blessed to be eating.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 25 Nov. 2021

melancholy

2 of 2 adjective
  • She was in a melancholy mood.
  • He became quiet and melancholy as the hours slowly passed.
  • What a melancholy end to a great run.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 14 Dec. 2025
  • There was melancholy in the air.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 27 Dec. 2025
  • Their sound was more sweet and melancholy.
    — David Hill, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Isn’t this a melancholy view of things?
    — Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026
  • Sweet, melancholy slices of life add up to the epic.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 21 Nov. 2025
  • And there’s also a lot of melancholy in it.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 29 Nov. 2025
  • A lot of the dances turned out to be slightly melancholy.
    — Naaman Zhou, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
  • There is a sweetness and a melancholy.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 11 Aug. 2025
  • Some melancholy—not to say fearful—thoughts crop up in my head.
    — Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2019
  • But one melancholy night wrecked my resolve.
    — Abraham Jiménez Enoa, The Dial, 9 Dec. 2025
  • This time of year gets kind of melancholy for me because, is this my last year?
    — Mike Anthony, courant.com, 13 May 2018
  • Need to get in the melancholy mood before tickets go on sale?
    — oregonlive, 23 Jan. 2023
  • This is not to say the play is 95 minutes of melancholy.
    — David John Chávez, Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2026
  • The melancholy builds as Anne ages months, years before our eyes.
    — Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Much like the myth, Avalon is full of grandeur as much as melancholy.
    — Jill Krajewski, SPIN, 8 June 2022
  • The mood is melancholy, but the music is going strange places.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2022
  • There’s a melancholy in his face that Bradley echoes in her own images.
    — Ismail Muhammad, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2020
  • The whale was even dubbed wayward, a melancholy word if there ever was one.
    — Matthew T. Hall, sandiegouniontribune.com, 12 Mar. 2018
  • The lines of the song had always followed the same slow, melancholy arcs.
    — Caleb Crain, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
  • And if that time does arrive, there will be some more melancholy moments.
    — Star Tribune, 21 Nov. 2020
  • His soft, melancholy manner was a perfect fit for those times in that place.
    — Steve Meyer, Alaska Dispatch News, 20 Sep. 2017
  • So melancholy now, on the lonely gray seas, is tempered with sight of shore.
    — Patricia Highsmith, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021
  • In fact, talking about softball made her … kind of melancholy.
    — Tony Baranek, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
  • The play can create some real melancholy.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 18 June 2026
  • Or does the genre seem to demand a certain melancholy, an air of unease?
    — Polly Rosenwaike, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 Nov. 2017
  • But the next couple of takes are infused with a more melancholy silence.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 4 Aug. 2022
  • But the tone the director sets here is more melancholy than abrasive.
    — Justin Chang, latimes.com, 15 Feb. 2018
  • Does this melancholy trip echo a life experience of your own?
    — Jane Ciabattari september 16, Literary Hub, 16 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'melancholy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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