Gloss · Words · Melancholy vs wistful
Melancholy vs wistful
Melancholy is a sadness that settles in. Wistful is a sadness with a wish in it.
The difference
Melancholy is a mood, and it can last. It is thoughtful and heavy and not about anything in particular; the old doctors treated it as a condition. As an adjective it describes a tune, a sky, a person. Wistful is lighter and has a direction. The wistful look is at something you want and probably cannot have: the house you did not buy, the life in the photograph. It passes.
Melancholy
A deep, quiet sadness that stays for a while and has no single cause.
A melancholy settled over the house after the guests left.
Melancholy, explained six ways
Wistful
Quietly sad and longing for something that is gone or out of reach.
He gave the old house a wistful look.
Which one to use
Melancholy for the weather of the mind. Wistful for the glance at the thing you wanted.
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