Dolorous

There are times in life when tears cannot be escaped and these have to be felt on the texture of our skin. These are dolorous times, when words do not work and the effects of sorrow come into existence.

The dictionary definitions for dolorous are as follows:
1. Marked by or exhibiting sorrow, grief, or pain. (adjective)

Masters Tip to remember Dolorous:
There are a number of situations which can be labeled as dolorous: the death of a near one, the loss of job or prestige or taking it down to the simplest level, the crying of a baby. That scene is never pretty. And that’s our tip to remember the word: simply remember a crying and sad baby, one whose favorite toy has been taken away.

Word Origin:
The word dolorous comes from the Latin root ‘doloro-, dolor-, dolori- , dol- +’, meaning ‘to feel pain, to grieve; sorrow, grief, mourning’.

It is pretty easy to establish the meaning of dolorous with the help of the word root above.

There are a number of other interesting words that are derived from this source. One of those is the Latin phrase ‘Via Dolorosa’. This phrase means ‘the road of sadness’ and has Biblical origins. The road referred to here is the one followed by Jesus on the way to His crucifixion. The journey on crucifixion was in itself a painful one, one undergone for the boon of mankind. Hence, the road is one to sadness.

Another interesting word that comes from the same root is ‘indolence’. This implies a dislike for work and physical action. An indolent person is basically a lazy one. The question is how is indolent related to dolorous? Indolent comes from the Latin indolentia which means “freedom from pain”. This is a further combination of two Latin roots: in, (meaning “not”) + dolere, (meaning “to suffer pain”). Hence, indolence is basically not suffering from any pain, and how do you do so: by not working, the perfect solution in a way. No work, no pain for the body to go through.