Lament

noun, verb

noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An expression of grief, suffering, sadness or regret.
  2. 2
    a mournful poem; a lament for the dead wordnet
  3. 3
    A song expressing grief.
  4. 4
    a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person wordnet
  5. 5
    a cry of sorrow and grief wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To express grief; to weep or wail; to mourn. intransitive

    "Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice."

  2. 2
    regret strongly wordnet
  3. 3
    To express great sorrow or regret over; to bewail. transitive

    "Euston is so traditionally a part of the London scene that many will lament the passing of the old station when rebuilding is complete in readiness for the new electric service, which will probably be by multiple-units between Euston and Wolverhampton."

  4. 4
    express grief verbally wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bemoanbewailbewaildeploredeploredirge

Example

More examples

"One should not lament over past mistakes too long."

Etymology

From French lamenter, from Latin lāmentor (“I wail, weep”), from lāmenta (“wailings, laments, moanings”); with formative -mentum, from the root *la-, probably ultimately imitative. Also see latrare.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.