Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SAD'NESS, n.

1. Sorrowfulness; mournfulness; dejection of mind; as, grief and sadness at the memory of sin. – Decay of Piety.
2. A melancholy look; gloom of countenance. Dim sadness did not spare / Celestial visages. – Milton.
3. Seriousness; sedate gravity. Let every thing in a mournful subject have an air of sadness.