mourning
/ˈmɔːnɪŋ
/noun [mass noun]
1The expression of sorrow for someone’s death: she’s still in mourning after the death of her husband...
- The university closed for three days as of Friday and flags are flying at half-mast in mourning of the rector's death.
- The best thing anyone in mourning can do is live and hope.
- The view that the whole nation was in mourning was well wide of the mark.
Synonyms
grief, grieving, sorrowing, lamentation, lament, keening, wailing, weeping;
sorrow, sadness, misery, melancholy, heartache, anguish, despair, despondency, desolation, woefulness;
Judaism shiva
archaic dole
1.1Black clothes worn as an expression of sorrow when someone dies: if he dies, she’ll put on mourning but she won’t cry...
- Wives wear mourning for the relatives of their husbands precisely as they would for their own, as would husbands for the relatives of their wives.
- Children under fifteen are not expected to wear mourning, nor should any girl under seventeen wear crape.
- Indeed, many people do not put on mourning at all, save for very near relatives.
Synonyms
black clothes, black
archaic widow's weeds, weeds, sackcloth and ashes, sables
