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
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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:
Many of his lyrics lament the conditions of the downtrodden and underprivileged, pointing out the injustices in the way man treats his fellow man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
New graduates lament that while their college professors discouraged the use of AI tools, hiring managers applaud it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Bret may lament childhood’s demise, but if you had helicopter parents, these throes probably look less like trash than fire.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Sotomayor’s lament applies with equal force to Landor v.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
My lament subsided into bitter tears that left me shaking as if all my limbs would come loose from my body.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
But in Torkham, Sarwar's sister-in-law Zarina laments the precarious future they face: "We have no resources to start a business or earn a living, and we don't even own a tent to live in".
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
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
In “Remake,” McElwee laments the hope that making “Photographic Memory” gave him, an aspiration that he was depicting his son on the cusp of finding his way through the dark.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
As he now laments, however, “It didn’t even occur to me to grab his radio, too.”
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
She also lamented that some people today still treat Muslims differently because of the attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"Normally, we guide around 20 pilots over the course of an hour. But right now, 40 are in the queue. Inevitably, delays build up," she lamented.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Others lamented the death of a “part of their childhood.”
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
One opponent on Facebook lamented the loss of the area’s natural beauty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“No one with whom I talked showed any great enthusiasm about Oppenheimer as a possible director of the project,” Groves lamented.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
We observe them lamenting how powerless they feel: Their medical skills can do some good, but not nearly enough.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
He then sent out the names of the districts being targeted, quietly lamenting a few typos.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 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
The Italian dismissed Djokovic effortlessly on Centre Court 12 months ago - a defeat that left the seven-time Wimbledon champion lamenting his age.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
It still echoed sorrowfully, searchingly, but other voices accompanied it, voices of pleasure and sorrow, good and evil voices, laughing and lamenting voices, hundreds of voices, thousands of voices.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
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.
