Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Sadness
Sad′ness, n. 1. Heaviness; firmness. [Obs.]
2. Seriousness; gravity; discretion. [Obs.]
Her sadness and her benignity. Chaucer.
3. Quality of being sad, or unhappy; gloominess; sorrowfulness; dejection.
Dim sadness did not spare That time celestial visages. Milton.
Syn. — Sorrow; heaviness; dejection. See Grief.