bemoan
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to express distress or grief over; lament.
to bemoan one's fate.
-
to regard with regret or disapproval.
verb
Other Word Forms
- bemoaningly adverb
- unbemoaned adjective
Etymology
Origin of bemoan
before 1000; be- + moan; replacing bemene, Middle English bimenen, Old English bimǣnan ( bi- be- + mǣnan to moan)
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.
She's having to rely on her parents to help out, but bemoans the need for them to do so.
From BBC
Today, however, we come not to bemoan the bad times but celebrate the good times, for the Angels and Dodgers.
From Los Angeles Times
She famously bemoaned his birth in a cruel letter, which Okrent suggests Sondheim may have misquoted.
From Los Angeles Times
Even the prosecutor touring a buried villa that’s become a crime scene, illegally stripped of its frescoes, bemoans what’s been lost when thieves rob a people of their ancestors’ memories.
From Los Angeles Times
Ravanelli, reportedly the highest-paid man in the league, scored at almost the same rate he bemoaned the club's professionalism in the Italian press, suggesting Juventus coaches were having to fax him fitness plans.
From BBC
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.
