wail

verb \ ˈwāl \

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Examples: wail in a Sentence

Definition of wail

wailed; wailing; wails

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

—

wailer

play \ˈwā-lər\ noun

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Examples of wail in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of wail from the Web

He’d snuck out of his bed while a boy named James was wailing and weeping loud enough to make the whirlybird drift over to him with its sleep-inducing syringe.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "A transgender girl rises up against alien invaders in Rich Larson’s novel Annex," 8 July 2018
Videos of youngsters in cages and an audiotape of wailing children have sparked anger at home from groups ranging from clergy to influential business leaders, as well as condemnation from abroad.

— author: roberta rampton, Anchorage Daily News, "Trump says he will sign ‘pre-emptive’ order on immigrant families," 20 June 2018
The adults circled the young one who continued to wail from its high perch.

— mare czinar, azcentral, "Arizona hike: Wildlife abounds on the South Fork Trail," 19 June 2018
Heartbreaking new audio of wailing immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border reveals a Border Patrol agent joking about their tears.

— alexia fernandez, PEOPLE.com, "Secret Audio Captures Border Patrol Agent Joking About Children Sobbing For Their Parents," 18 June 2018
And the singing draws on some of the same traditions that Aguilera does, with lots of throaty murmuring and ecstatic diva wailing.

— mikael wood, latimes.com, "Christina Aguilera is rebuilding a cult of personality. Sophie has no use for one," 13 June 2018
In the early seventies, Funkadelic fell in with the Detroit rock scene, matching the wailing anarchy of proto-punk acts like the MC5 and the Stooges.

— hua hsu, The New Yorker, "How George Clinton Made Funk a World View," 9 July 2017
Little Bernardethe wailed for three days and clawed at her mother’s breast.

— cindy carcamo, latimes.com, "At the border, mothers prepare to make an agonizing choice," 25 June 2018
Wasn’t expecting women to be on the sidelines, merely wailing for peace, the same as calling them cowards?

— Longreads, "A Chance to Rewrite History: The Women Fighters of the Tamil Tigers," 22 May 2018

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.

Origin and Etymology of wail

Middle English weilen, waylen, perhaps modification (influenced by Middle English weilawei wellaway) of Old Norse væla, vāla to wail; akin to Old Norse vei woe — more at woe

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

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