lament

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a cry of sorrow and grief
  2. noun a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person
  3. noun a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

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”); with formative -mentum, from the root *la-, probably ultimately imitative. Also see latrare.

In classic literature

Synonyms

lamentation, plaint, wail

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading