Sorrowful means filled with deep sadness or grief. When you're sorrowful, you feel a heavy, aching kind of sadness that weighs on your heart. You might feel sorrowful when a beloved pet dies, when a close friend moves away to a distant city, or when you see someone you care about suffering.

The word suggests something more serious than everyday disappointments. You might feel sad when you lose a game, but sorrowful when you attend a funeral. A sorrowful expression shows pain in someone's eyes and face. In stories, sorrowful characters often struggle with loss or heartbreak, like Sara Crewe in A Little Princess, who feels sorrowful after her father's death.

You can also describe things as sorrowful when they express or cause sorrow. A sorrowful song might make listeners feel the singer's pain. A sorrowful goodbye carries the weight of knowing you may not see someone for a long time. The related noun is sorrow, which is the feeling itself: the deep sadness that comes from loss, disappointment, or witnessing suffering. While everyone experiences sorrow at times, the feeling eventually lightens, making room for happier emotions again.