lament

1 of 2

verb

la·​ment lə-ˈment How to pronounce lament (audio)
lamented; lamenting; laments

intransitive verb

: to mourn aloud : wail
nightingales lament without ceasingL. P. Smith

transitive verb

1
: to express sorrow, mourning, or regret for often demonstratively : mourn
… must regret the imprudence, lament the result …Jane Austen
2
: to regret strongly
He lamented his decision not to go to college.

lament

2 of 2

noun

1
: a crying out in grief : wailing
2
3
Choose the Right Synonym for lament

deplore, lament, bewail, bemoan mean to express grief or sorrow for something.

deplore implies regret for the loss or impairment of something of value.

deplores the breakdown in family values

lament implies a profound or demonstrative expression of sorrow.

lamenting the loss of their only child

bewail and bemoan imply sorrow, disappointment, or protest finding outlet in words or cries, bewail commonly suggesting loudness, and bemoan lugubriousness.

fans bewailed the defeat
purists bemoaning the corruption of the language

Examples of lament in a Sentence

Verb She lamented over the loss of her best friend. “I've lost my best friend!” she lamented. Noun The poem is a lament for a lost love. the national lament that was heard when the beloved singer perished in the crash
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
For his part, Beristain, who has now returned to his home in Spain, lamented that the extent of the military’s involvement in the saga remains unclear. Alma Guillermoprieto, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024 Holmgren lamented his side’s surprise loss postgame. Sam Joseph, CNN, 1 Mar. 2024 The former Carolina Panthers star and 2015 NFL MVP lamented that the altercation set a poor example. Rishikesh Rajagopalan, CBS News, 1 Mar. 2024 Barta acknowledged that some diesel enthusiasts actually lament the LZ0’s lack of traditional diesel grumble. Michael Van Runkle, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 Some now lament that October 7 struck mortal blows to both the two-state solution and a just and peaceful one-state alternative. Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Social media feeds lamented the scene and claimed the ecosystem had been destroyed, possibly forever. The Arizona Republic, 16 Feb. 2024 Others lamented the lack of categories for people with intersex traits or who are asexual or pansexual. Mike Schneider, The Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2024 Brown laments the decline of an agency that was once, from his perspective, a national leader in protecting workers and holding employers accountable. Maya Miller, Sacramento Bee, 22 Feb. 2024
Noun
As a dig at generational dissatisfaction and/or a lament about the migrant’s blues, the film is good enough. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Mar. 2024 This lament is best delivered in a single dose; one scene generally does the trick. Sophia Nguyen, Washington Post, 29 Feb. 2024 Arne Carlson, who at 89 sounds considerably sharper and more articulate than the two leading presidential candidates, wrote last week in a letter to the Minneapolis paper of his lament of the current state of Minnesota politics. Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 24 Feb. 2024 This has been a familiar lament for the Sabres, coming five days after coach Don Granato complained about the team’s lack of net-front presence in a 3-1 loss to St. Louis. John Wawrow, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2024 The greatest lament in northwest communities — a complaint voiced often by Polis and some other officials — is RTD’s failure, due to insufficient funding, to build out the full B-Line commuter rail train to Boulder and Longmont as promised. Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post, 7 Feb. 2024 These bit players work, whisper, chatter, laugh, philosophize, run, hide, weep, lament and survive, sometimes as an undifferentiated human blur and sometimes with great individual vividness. Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2023 The forest setting, with its lilies, frogs, and bending trees, doesn’t connect with Tolstoy’s laments, but so what? David Denby, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2023 Listen to the laments from the COP28 conference in Dubai. Llewellyn King, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lament.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Noun

Middle English lementen, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French lamenter, from Latin lamentari, from lamentum, noun, lament

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun

1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of lament was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near lament

Cite this Entry

“Lament.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lament. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

lament

1 of 2 verb
la·​ment lə-ˈment How to pronounce lament (audio)
1
: to mourn aloud : wail
2
: to express sorrow for : bewail
lamentation
ˌlam-ən-ˈtā-shən
noun

lament

2 of 2 noun
1
: a crying out in grief
2
: a mournful song or poem

More from Merriam-Webster on lament

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