“out of sorts” vs “down in the dumps”

Question

Are there any differences in the meaning of or when we use the idioms 'out of sorts' and 'down in the dumps'? The definitions in the Cambridge Dictionary are:

out of sorts : in an unhappy mood
down in the dumps : unhappy

JavaLatte · Answer

As this NGram graph hows, out of sorts is a lot more common.
The two expressions certainly have a large overlap, but in my opinion, there is a difference of degree between the two. Out of sorts means slightly unhappy, probably temporarily- maybe reflecting your mood today. Down in the dumps suggests a rather more serious an long-term problem.

“out of sorts” vs “down in the dumps”

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