The best replacement for sadness is depression.

The best alternatives to sadness are rated as following:
★★★★★  depression
★★  anger
★★  happiness
★  clinical depression
★  sadness
★  sorrow
  grief
  cedric gervais
  melancholy
  despair
  self-pity
  loneliness

Your alternative for sadness is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about sadness, one probably shouldn't forget about depression.

Other search terms related to sadness and their ratings are:
★★★★★ depression
★★ protecting yourself from happiness
happiness
You have in mind a companion for sadness and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of sadness in all years. Click on graph for more.
sadness
depression
anger