atrabilious

== English == === Etymology === From Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”) (āter (“dark, black”) + bīlis (“bile”)) +‎ -ous (“full of”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˌæ.tɹəˈbɪl.i.əs/ Hyphenation: atra‧bili‧ous === Adjective === atrabilious (comparative more atrabilious, superlative most atrabilious) (medicine, obsolete) Having an excess of black bile. 1645, Arthur Wilson, quoted in Antonia Fraser, The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-century England, London: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd., 1984, ISBN 978-0-297-78381-7: [I] could see nothing in the evidence which did persuade me to think them other than poor, melancholy, envious, mischievous, ill-disposed, ill-dieted, atrabilious constitutions. Characterized by melancholy. Ill-natured; malevolent; cantankerous. ==== Synonyms ==== (characterized by melancholy): See Thesaurus:sad or Thesaurus:lamentable (ill-natured): See Thesaurus:irritable ==== Related terms ==== atrabilarious atrabiliously atrabiliousness