lamented; lamenting; laments
: to mourn aloud : wail
nightingales lament without ceasing—
L. P. Smith
L. P. Smith1
: to express sorrow, mourning, or regret for often demonstratively : mourn
… must regret the imprudence, lament the result …—Jane Austen
Jane Austen2
: to regret strongly
He lamented his decision not to go to college.
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
Sakura Murakami, Fortune, 6 Aug. 2025
The president, a longtime real estate mogul who is known for a hands-on approach in the design and construction of his resorts, golf courses and skyscraper office buildings, has long lamented the lack of sufficient event space at the White House.
—Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill, 2 Aug. 2025
Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2025
Not least, Mailman is a lament for the decline of service as an American ideal—for the cultural twilight of the Halloween job: those occupations, such as police officer, firefighter, Marine, and, yes, postal worker, whose worth is not measured first and foremost in dollars but in public esteem.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lament
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Verb
While Trump has long lamented the fact that U.S. cars are unpopular in Japan, most experts agree that is due to the lack of vehicles suitable for the market, rather than any barriers to trade.
—Sakura Murakami, Fortune, 6 Aug. 2025
The president, a longtime real estate mogul who is known for a hands-on approach in the design and construction of his resorts, golf courses and skyscraper office buildings, has long lamented the lack of sufficient event space at the White House.
—Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill, 2 Aug. 2025
Noun
Perfectionism often gets misunderstood as an unstoppable striving for excellence, a quality that many of us would love to (half-heartedly) lament.
—Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2025
Not least, Mailman is a lament for the decline of service as an American ideal—for the cultural twilight of the Halloween job: those occupations, such as police officer, firefighter, Marine, and, yes, postal worker, whose worth is not measured first and foremost in dollars but in public esteem.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lament
Cite this Entry
“Lament.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lament. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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