Dolour

/ˈdɒlə/ · noun

Meaning

(chiefly uncountable, literary) Anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow..

Definitions by Sense

1. (chiefly uncountable, literary) Anguish, grief, misery, or sorrow.
2. (countable, economics, ethics) In economics and utilitarianism: a unit of pain used to theoretically weigh people's outcomes.

Example Sentences

Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.

But for all this thou ſhalt haue as many Dolors for thy Daughters, as thou canſt tell in a yeare.

Gon[zalo]. When euery greefe is entertaind, / That's offer'd comes to th'entertainer. / Seb[astian]. A dollor. / Gon. Dolour comes to him indeed, you haue ſpoken truer then you purpos'd / Seb. You haue taken it wiſelier then I meant you ſhould.

This Duke (ſaith [Richard] Grafton) being an aged man, and fortunate before in all his vvarres, vpon this diſtaſture impreſſed ſuch dolour of mind, that for verie griefe thereof he liued not long after.

[E]very ſentence of that Book, every groan of that Man [Francesco Spiera], with all the reſt of his actions in his dolours, […] was as knives and daggers in my Soul; […]

[T]o think that I am going to leave her—and to leave her in distress and dolour—No, Miss Lucy, you need never think it!

Perchance a congregation to fulfil / Solemnities of silence in this doom, / Mysterious rites of dolour and despair / Permitting not a breath or chant of prayer?

Supposedly, utilitarians are able to add and subtract hedons (units of pleasure) and dolors (units of pain) without any signs of cognitive or affective distress […]

Synonyms for dolour

Antonyms for dolour

Related Words

Word Forms

• dolours
• dolor

Usage Notes

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