Language tip of the week: feeling sad

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. In this series of language tips to accompany the Real Vocabulary theme we look at how you can expand your vocabulary in English by using different words and expressions instead of core vocabulary items.

This set of language tips will explore the words and phrases we use to talk about feelings. This week’s tip looks at adjectives that mean feeling sad:

sad:
I felt really sad about leaving, but I had no choice. ♦ We were sad to hear that the school is going to close. ♦ ‘I’m OK,’ she said in a sad voice. ♦ What’s that sad face for? ♦ He has such sad eyes.
unhappy feeling sad for a long time or all the time:
I don’t know why she goes on seeing him when he just makes her unhappy. ♦ Sarah seems desperately unhappy at school.
miserable very sad, especially because you are uncomfortable, lonely or sick:
I don’t know what he’s so miserable about. ♦ After waiting for an hour, he was cold, wet and utterly miserable.
upset sad because of something bad that has happened recently:
You look upset – what’s the matter? ♦ She’s still too upset to talk about the accident. ♦ They’re terribly upset about losing the case.
Upset is rarely used before a noun.

Did you know that Macmillan Dictionary includes a full thesaurus? This page lists more ways to talk about ‘feeling sad‘.