These words are all used of unhappy or despairing states of mind and, in some cases, of situations which cause or are evocative of such feelings. Sad , the mildest and most general term, is also the least explicit, since it gives no hint as to how downcast a person may be or for what reason. One may feel sad because of the passing of summer, or sad because a child leaves home to be married. A funeral may be a sad occasion, but so may the cutting down of a beautiful forest for timber. A monkey peering out of a cage may have the sad eyes of a lonely old man.

Dejected means literally cast down in spirits and, like downcast itself, suggests a temporary state of disappointment and discouragement brought on by some external event: dejected when she failed to win the prize; downcast because a friend failed to greet him in the street.

Depressed and despondent both apply to more prolonged states of sadness. Depressed describes an emotional state in which both physical and mental activity may be slowed down, sometimes to the point of apathy. The depressed person is flooded with feeling of hopelessness and low self-esteem, and he tends to withdraw into himself and brood. To the casual observer, one who is depressed often appears to be so without apparent cause or, at most, for insufficient reasons. Despondent is sometimes used interchangeably with depressed , although the former often connotes great grief and a feeling of helplessness because of some catastrophe: despondent because he lost all his money on the share market; despondent over the death of his wife; a patient despondent because his condition does not improve.

Melancholy suggests a habitual pensiveness and sadness which may not necessarily be unpleasant, and it stresses the presence of sorrow rather than of pain.

• During the Romantic period it was fashionable in literature to have a melancholy outlook on the world and to turn one’s back on liveliness and joy.

In the past, melancholy has been applied to persons suffering from the marked lowness of spirits associated with mental illness. It is rarely so used today, depressed and despondent having supplanted it in this sense. Melancholy may also describe things and places that have an adverse effect on one’s good spirits: the melancholy sound of the wind; the melancholy news of a friend’s bad luck; the melancholy beach, deserted and covered with dead seaweed and debris.

Disconsolate means refusing or unable to accept consolation or comfort, as after a loss or disappointment. Disconsolate is a more literary term than despondent , and it carries the suggestion of an outward expression of sorrow or pain rather than of listlessness: a disconsolate woman sobbing before the smoking ruins of her home.

Lugubrious , while actually meaning sad or dejected , is now applied almost exclusively to a person or thing that is so excessively mournful or solemn as to be ludicrous.

• Our Sunday school teacher used to regale us with accounts of the lugubrious fates awaiting bad children; A bloodhound has long ears, pendulous chops and a lugubrious expression.

Blue is a loose synonym for sad , depressed or despondent . It does not suggest the extent or depth of such a feeling except in context, and it tends to sound informal.

• She was blue and lonely because she had no Saturday-night date; A retired person often becomes blue because he feels he is no longer engaged in meaningful activity.