What does dolour mean?
Dolour is a noun meaning intense sorrow, grief, or mental anguish. It belongs to a formal, literary register and appears most often in poetry, hymns, funeral rites, and elevated prose, where writers seek a weightier alternative to ordinary words like sadness. A character in a novel might endure 'years of dolour' after a devastating loss, or an elegy might give voice to the dolour of a grieving community. The word carries connotations of deep, enduring suffering rather than momentary upset, lending any sentence a solemn, almost ceremonial tone. In American English the spelling is usually simplified to dolor, while dolour remains the standard British form. Both derive from Latin dolor, meaning pain or grief, which also gave English such related terms as doleful, condolence, and dolorous. Though rare in modern conversation, dolour survives as a powerful expressive choice when ordinary vocabulary seems too light for genuine mourning.
nounDolour means great mental suffering, distress, or sorrow; grief or anguish. It is a literary and somewhat archaic term for deep, prolonged sadness.
- Great mental suffering, distress, or grief; sorrow.
"The widow's dolour was evident in every line of her face as she stood by the grave."
"She bore the loss of her homeland with quiet dolour all her life."
"The elegy gives voice to the dolour of a nation in mourning."
The plural is rare and appears mostly in older literary or religious texts, often in set phrases referring to sorrows collectively.
"She recounted the dolours of her long captivity."
Shakespeare used it — but so did the Book of Common Prayer: 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust' comes from a rite steeped in words like dolour.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dolour
Dolour comes from the Latin dolor, meaning physical pain or mental grief, which passed into Old French as dolour before entering Middle English around the thirteenth century. It shares this Latin root with dolorous, doleful, and condolence, all carrying the sense of sorrow or suffering. The spelling dolour reflects French influence and remains standard in British English, while American English generally prefers the shorter form dolor.
Related word forms
How dolour is actually used
Dolour is formal, literary, and somewhat archaic; it appears mainly in poetry, religious texts, and elevated prose rather than everyday speech. The spelling 'dolor' is standard in American English.
Easily confused with dolour
'Dollar' is a unit of currency, while 'dolour' is a literary word for grief or suffering — they share little beyond similar spelling.