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''lament'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260901174310-00-⌔

lament - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

lament (plural laments)

  • An expression of grief, suffering, sadness or regret.
  • A song expressing grief.

Verb

lament (third-person singular simple present laments, present participle lamenting, simple past and past participle lamented)

  • (intransitive) To express grief; to weep or wail; to mourn.
    • ✤ Synonyms: grieve, mourn; see also Thesaurus: be sad, Thesaurus: complain
    • ✤ Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.1
    • ✤ And they are dangerous because when worn they make their wearer look ridiculous and contemptible to those not enthralled by the same fashion; and when their moment has passed they take up precious closet space, taunting you and making you lament of money that should have been spent on something more longevous.2
  • (transitive) To express great sorrow or regret over; to bewail.
    • ✤ Synonyms: bemoan, bewail; see also Thesaurus: lament
    • ✤ 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.3
    • ✤ By the end, Sunderland were lucky to lose by the same scoreline Northampton Town suffered against Southampton, in 1921. The Sunderland manager, Gus Poyet, lamented that it was “the most embarrassed I’ve ever been on a football pitch, without a doubt”.4
    • ✤ One laugh’d at follies, one lamented crimes.5

Etymology

A back-formation from lamentation or else from Middle French lamenter and its etymon Latin lāmentor (“to wail, weep”), from lāmentum (“wailing, moaning, weeping”);6 with formative -mentum, from the root ﹡la-, probably ultimately imitative. Also see latrare.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA: /ləˈmɛnt/
  • Audio (Australia): 🔊
  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɛnt

Printed 2026-09-01.

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Footnotes

  1. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 16:20: ↩

  2. 2006, Nicholas Antongiavanni [pseudonym; Michael Anton], The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 52: ↩

  3. 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 99: ↩

  4. 2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian: ↩

  5. 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC: ↩

  6. Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “lament (v.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. ↩