lament
Americanverb (used with object)
-
laments,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lamented,
past participle, past
-
lamenting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
laments,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lamented,
past participle, past
-
lamenting
present participle
noun
-
laments
plural
-
an expression of grief or sorrow.
- Synonyms:
- moan, lamentation
-
a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or song; an elegy or dirge.
verb
noun
-
an expression of sorrow
-
a poem or song in which a death is lamented
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lamentsimple
-
lamentssimple
-
have lamentedperfect
-
has lamentedperfect
-
am lamentingprogressive
-
are lamentingprogressive
-
is lamentingprogressive
-
have been lamentingperfect progressive
-
has been lamentingperfect progressive
Past
-
lamentedsimple
-
had lamentedperfect
-
was lamentingprogressive
-
were lamentingprogressive
-
had been lamentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lament
First recorded in 1520–30; (noun) from Latin lāmentum “plaint”; (verb) from Latin lāmentārī, derivative of lāmentum
Explanation
If you are really upset or sorry about something, you might lament it. A lament is full of regret and grief. If you lament something, then you feel sorry about it. You could lament a mistake you made, or you could lament a horrible thing that happened to a friend. Also, a lament is an expression of grief. So if you keep saying how sorry you are about something, someone could say, "Enough of your laments!" There's also an old literary form called "a lament," which expresses feelings of loss in a long dramatic poem.
Vocabulary lists containing lament
Night
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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The Alchemist
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
New graduates lament that while their college professors discouraged the use of AI tools, hiring managers applaud it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
As many fans lament the steep cost of events, these limited initiatives are only a band-aid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
As performed by Price, Baez and Memphis Mariachi, their version of “Deportee” manages to be everything: a lament, a celebration of the lives lost, a tribute, a reminder.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
Sotomayor’s lament applies with equal force to Landor v.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“I lament sorely that I was born to poverty,” he once told a friend.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Standing in front of his mural, depicting the face of a girl with a feathered headdress, he laments that many artists were victims of the gangs and are now "disappeared."
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Both displayed robust instruments with exceptional clarity, agility in florid passages, and moving sincerity in the many laments, which were ornamented with elegant subtlety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Oh D.R. me that was close!" it laments.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
“Club Sport Marítimo de La Guaira profoundly laments the irreparable loss of the wife and sons of our player Lucas Trejo,” the team wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
“Occasionally you’ll get a client who thinks he’s bought a guaranteed ticket to the summit,” laments Peter Athans, a highly respected guide who’s made eleven trips to Everest and reached the top four times.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Others lamented the death of a “part of their childhood.”
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
"In France and Italy, they are hiring, whereas in Germany, we are only cutting jobs," Bremm lamented, saying that governments in Paris and Rome seemed to be lobbying the parent company more aggressively.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
In the days leading up to the eclipse, many lamented that online retailers like Amazon were no longer offering speedy delivery options.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The 38-year-old San Fernando Valley native, who is an avid fan of 1950s and ’60s style, lamented the loss of a long-tenured eatery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
“None of them,” Fitzsimmons lamented, “ever won the dollar.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Some in Labour were unhappy when Lennon didn't make the ballot for this contesting, lamenting a lack of breadth in the contest.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
"I was born in the Revolution and through it I was able to find my way," he said, lamenting the loss of Castro's leadership in Cuba today.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
She received dozens of letters lamenting the “good old days” of “American” recipes like cola-soaked pork chops, but she didn’t listen.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
He is lamenting the death of his wife, Seleuce, who is not actually dead but also on Cyprus, pretending to be a shepherdess and looking for him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Desdemona had to devise elaborate ruses to satisfy him, telling him that our kitchen was the Zebra Room, only redecorated, and lamenting at how bad business was.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
