sorrow
n. C / Un. a feeling of deep sadness, usually because you have lost someone or something you love.
n. a state of intense distress or unhappiness caused by loss, disappointment, or misfortune.
She felt great sorrow after her dog died.
The whole community shared in the family's sorrow during the memorial service.
The poet explores the depths of human sorrow, illustrating how grief can transform one's perspective on the passage of time.
From Middle English sorwe, sorow, sorewe, from Old English sorg, sorh (“care, anxiety, sorrow, grief”), from Proto-West Germanic sorgu, from Proto-Germanic surgō (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swergʰ- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit सूर्क्षति (sū́rkṣati, “worry”). Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not historically related to sorry and sore.
Uncountable when referring to the general emotion; countable when referring to a specific event or cause of sadness.