disconsolate
nounEtymology From Medieval Latin discōnsōlātus (“comfortless”), from dis- (“away”) + cōnsōlātus (“consoled”).
1
Obsolete Disconsolateness.
disconsolate
adjUK /dɪsˈkɒnsəlɪt/ · US /dɪsˈkɑnsəlɪt/
Etymology From Medieval Latin discōnsōlātus (“comfortless”), from dis- (“away”) + cōnsōlātus (“consoled”).
1
Cheerless, dreary.
- I opened my eyes to this disconsolate day.
- a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts, / With ceaſeleſſe and diſconſolate conceits, / Which dies my lookes so liueleſſe as they are, / And might, if my extreames had ful euents, / Make me the gaſtly counterfeit of death.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
4 more examples
- But vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him?1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 329:
- Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighbouring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):
- [S]itting close beside it, taking the air with an infinite sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Incident at the Window”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 63:
- 1897, W.S.Maugham, Liza of Lambeth, chapter 1. Worst off of all were the very young children, for there had been no rain for weeks, and the street was as dry and clean as a covered court, and, in the lack of mud to wallow in, they sat about the road, disconsolate as poets.
2
Seemingly beyond consolation; inconsolable.
- For weeks after the death of her cat she was disconsolate.
- overwhelmed with disconsolate sorrowa. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- disconsolately, disconsolation, disconsolateness