How to Use mournful in a Sentence

mournful

adjective
  • Soon a mournful blue light would rise over the islands in the sea.
    — Greg Jackson, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024
  • There was grief again, and the mournful sound of bagpipes echoed again.
    — James Barron, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2019
  • If the game ends in defeat, the block grows quiet and mournful.
    — Sam Whiting, SFChronicle.com, 30 Jan. 2020
  • In truth, the mixing of the mournful and the clownish is a stale trope.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2021
  • All dogs look silly and mournful when wet; all dogs have urgent ears.
    — Leslie Kendall Dye, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Some roared in agreement, while other let out mournful cries.
    — Hanna Krueger, NOLA.com, 19 May 2018
  • Go ahead and sing that requiem for a dying league, but don’t be so mournful about it.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Aug. 2023
  • Things kicked off this morning, and the game has a vibe that’s both festive and mournful.
    — Andrew Webster, The Verge, 18 July 2019
  • So mournful the distant owl in Black Brooks.
    — Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
  • The tone that Obama strikes in lines like these is almost mournful.
    — Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2020
  • This mournful ballad has been heard around the world for over a century.
    — Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 22 Jan. 2023
  • This mournful ballad has been heard around the world for over a century.
    — Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 22 Jan. 2023
  • Her tone when speaking of the subject that once enthralled her is mournful.
    — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Even in its mournful moments, the songs stay upbeat and the sorrow is quick to pass.
    — Maya Phillips, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2017
  • My ears fill up with the mournful sound of the courting owls, my eyes fill up with moonlight and bright snow.
    — Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune, 29 Jan. 2021
  • Boris Vishnevsky is a slight man with thin graying hair, mournful eyes, and a beard.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 16 Sep. 2021
  • These are haunting hills streaked with a soft, mournful color palette.
    — Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Well, 2019 is making that mournful era look like child’s play.
    — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 30 May 2019
  • Instead, the tone is mournful, suffused with dread and regret.
    — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Newsom shakes his head, seeming more mournful than angry.
    — Maya Singer, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2026
  • The melody was both mournful and urgent, like a funeral song for someone not quite dead.
    — National Geographic, 24 July 2019
  • This book includes, like the middle eight of a mournful song, a broken love story.
    — Dwight Garner, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2016
  • Buried by the Bernards is not a show that considers death with solemn, mournful silence.
    — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 12 Feb. 2021
  • Back then, the bird’s mournful, croaking call was widespread on the continent.
    — Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 May 2021
  • The song closes with a coda of saz and mandolin, mournful and hopeful in equal measure.
    — Molly Mary O’Brien, Pitchfork, 15 May 2026
  • The plaintive melodies are mournful yet comforting.
    — Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 12 May 2026
  • The lack of a rhythm section lent the final version a slow, mournful quality.
    — David Browne, Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2021
  • The friend complies with a mournful love song, and the movie seems to hold its breath until the final notes rise into the night air.
    — Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2017
  • Lush cellos and mournful piano trills coexist with the overall less-is-more sound.
    — Jae-Ha Kim, Rolling Stone, 10 Sep. 2025
  • In this context, even a simple boast about wielding a Beretta sounded mournful.
    — Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2025

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

Last Updated: