Feel blue means to feel sad or a bit low. It usually describes a mild sadness caused by the weather, the end of a holiday or missing a friend. It is not used for illness or serious depression. The phrase is informal: it sounds natural in conversation and IELTS Speaking, but in an essay feel sad or feel unhappy works better.
When would you say feel blue?
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feel + (a bit/a little) blue; make someone feel blue
- I always feel a bit blue on Sunday evenings before a busy week at work.
- Rainy November weather makes a lot of people feel blue.
- She was feeling blue after her exchange year ended, so her friends took her out for dinner.
What changed
First versionSince my best friend moved abroad, I've been feeling myself blue.
RevisionSince my best friend moved abroad, I've been feeling blue.
When feel describes a mood or how you feel physically, the adjective follows it directly, with no reflexive pronoun: I feel tired, I feel blue. So there is only one correction: myself was removed.
Feel blue describes a passing mood. If the feeling lasts for weeks and gets in the way of everyday life, the word is depressed: After months without work, he became depressed and stopped going out. There is also a version with a noun: I always get the blues in January.
Your turn
My holiday is over, it's raining, and I'm back at my desk, so I'm feeling a bit ___ today.
Show the answer
blue — The end of a holiday, rain and being back at work are all reasons to feel sad, so the answer is blue. Green, said about a person, means they look sick, as if they might throw up, and envy needs the full phrase green with envy. Neither meaning fits here.
Write about a time of year or a day of the week when you tend to feel sad. Give the reason and say what helps to lift your mood.
I often feel blue in February because the days are short, but a long walk with my dog always helps.
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