wail

verb

\ ˈwāl

wailed; wailing; wails

Definition of wail

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to express sorrow audibly : lament

2 : to make a sound suggestive of a mournful cry

3 : to express dissatisfaction plaintively : complain

transitive verb

1 archaic : bewail

2 : to say or express plaintively wailed that her cake was ruined

wail

noun

Definition of wail (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : the act or practice of wailing : loud lamentation

2a : a usually prolonged cry or sound expressing grief or pain

b : a sound suggestive of wailing the wail of an air-raid siren

c : a querulous expression of grievance : complaint

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Examples of wail in a Sentence

Verb

The child started wailing after she stumbled and fell. A saxophone wailed in the background. “No! I don't want to go!” he wailed. She wailed that the vacation was ruined.

Noun

the wail of a siren a prolonged wail arose from every corner of the city as the victims of the earthquake were unearthed from the rubble

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The president could have ended the policy of ripping scared, wailing kids from immigrant parents at the border with a phone call to his attorney general. — Fabiola Santiago, miamiherald, "Kids in cages did not move Trump to end separation policy. It was our outrage.," 20 June 2018 The Israeli army said several dozen rockets had been fired into Israel on Monday and Tuesday, as air raid sirens wailed across southern Israel. — Fares Akram, The Seattle Times, "Israel, Gaza militants in 2nd day of cross-border fighting," 25 Mar. 2019 The episode opens with pictures of North Koreans wailing in terror and anguish at Kim’s funeral. — Dorothy Rabinowitz, WSJ, "‘The Dictator’s Playbook’ Review: Tyranny 101," 10 Jan. 2019 Israel’s military said several mortar shells were fired even after Hamas announced the cease-fire as sirens warning of incoming projectiles wailed in Israel overnight again. — Fox News, "Cease-fire appears to hold after barrage of Israel-Hamas airstrikes," 16 July 2018 Onfroy was killed instantly; the attackers fled with a Louis Vuitton bag containing a few thousand dollars, while bystanders filmed Onfroy’s lifeless body and posted the footage to social media as emergency vehicle sirens wailed in the background. — Dan Rys, Billboard, "Grappling With The Complicated Life and Painful Death of XXXTentacion," 29 June 2018 More tears, mixed with some wailing for good measure. — Kim Fusaro, Woman's Day, "Why Do Babies Choose the Worst Times to Have Meltdowns?," 8 Sep. 2010 Sopranos Ah Young Hong and Kiera Duffy wept and wailed. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "This year's Ojai Music Festival was bright, and dark, and very very hot," 12 June 2018 While some cities burned, Boston danced and sang and wailed along with James Brown. — Kevin Cullen, BostonGlobe.com, "Blowing the horn for freedom," 5 Apr. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Cries and wails erupted when the casket of a local Ahvaz hero, 54-year-old Hossein Monjazi, a disabled war veteran and Revolutionary Guard member who had lost a leg and a hand in the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, was brought out. — Fox News, "Iran holds funerals for victims of terror attack in Ahvaz," 24 Sep. 2018 With television and social media awash with images and wails of young children torn from migrant families, Republicans want to pass a narrower measure addressing those separations should the broader bill fail. — Alan Fram And Lisa Mascaro, chicagotribune.com, "Far-reaching Republican immigration bill careening toward likely House rejection," 27 June 2018 The earthquake knocked out power and telecommunication towers, meaning sirens didn’t wail and alerts didn’t light up mobile phones. — Andi Jatmiko, The Seattle Times, "Indonesia expert warned of quake, gov’t mapped risk areas," 9 Oct. 2018 If something trips the system and nobody enters the disarming code in time, a built-in alarm wails. — David Pierce, WSJ, "Home Security Systems That Are Fast, Easy and Totally Not Creepy," 26 Aug. 2018 Juice WRLD sings in his now-signature thin wail, typically put in service of far lighter subject matter. — Jon Pareles, New York Times, "The Playlist: Paul McCartney’s Smooth Tunes, and 13 More New Songs," 22 June 2018 Why aren’t the recorded wails of her mother and the tears of her father enough for the whole world to be demanding justice right now? — Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, Harper's BAZAAR, "When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels," 16 Aug. 2018 The overlap created new drones, rhythms, rumbles and wails, with the whole ensemble gradually increasing the sound to a nearly unbearable volume and intensity. — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, "‘The Force of Things’ Review: Music Made Visible," 7 Aug. 2018 An electric guitar wails, and a keyboard chimes right in. — Kristina Stewart Ward, ELLE Decor, "Gilles Mendel's Fashion-Forward Home," 5 Jan. 2010

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wail.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.