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Definition of "mourning" []

  • The actions or expressions of one who has suffered a bereavement. (noun)
  • Conventional outward signs of grief for the dead, such as a black armband or black clothes. (noun)
  • The period during which a death is mourned. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "mourning" in a sentence
  • "Some said that "Browning" might have been added to the name, and while others marvelled that the husband wore no badge of mourning, a few said wisely that the _mourning_ was visible in other than the usual signs -- in the hair gray before its time, and in the deep-cut lines which a _living_ sorrow alone had made."
  • "As to Isis, as soon as the report reached her she immediately cut off one of the locks of her hair, [Footnote: The hair cut off as a sign of mourning was usually laid in the tomb of the dead.] and put on mourning apparel upon the very spot where she then happened to be, which accordingly from this accident has ever since been called Koptis, or _the city of mourning_, though some are of opinion that this word rather signifies _deprivation_."
  • "Thus, insofar as I always mourn not only my lost friend but something lost of myself, of my own emotional world, as well, my mourning is at once both an act of loyalty and of disloyalty to my friend."