How to Use wail in a Sentence

wail

1 of 2 verb

• A saxophone wailed in the background.
• She wailed that the vacation was ruined.
• The child started wailing after she stumbled and fell.
• Or had the full moon moved them to whirl and the animal to wail?
  — Lance Esplund, WSJ, 23 Nov. 2018
• His father wailed as the rescuers tried to free the body.
  — Washington Post, 7 June 2019
• The sirens are now slated to wail by the end of 2024, said Zamora.
  — Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Jan. 2022
• Cars, trains and ships sounded their horns and air raid sirens wailed.
  — NBC News, 4 Apr. 2020
• Michele, though, is focused on the fittings for the 87 looks as Kate Bush wails from the speakers.
  — Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 15 Apr. 2019
• Arrived wailing into this world as the fourth in a brood of eight.
  — Mitchell S. Jackson, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023
• One man, standing over the bodies of two young boys, wailed in grief.
  — Yousur Al-Hlou, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023
• The adults circled the young one who continued to wail from its high perch.
  — Mare Czinar, azcentral, 19 June 2018
• One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress.
  — Lisa Mascaro, ajc, 31 Mar. 2022
• The shipwreck scene that opens the play is ear-splitting in its shrieking and wailing.
  — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2023
• Those left behind might fast alone in the mountains and wail and cut themselves.
  — Sterling Holywhitemountain, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2021
• The woman sobbed, too, wailing that the girls were her daughters and hugging them in her arms.
  — Washington Post, 14 June 2019
• One of the members even puts down his sax to wail a few songs with bell-like clarity.
  — Morena Duwe, Billboard, 11 Dec. 2019
• On most mornings, Ye would wake up at 8:00 a.m. when his alarm clock began to wail.
  — NBC News, 4 Nov. 2019
• With sirens wailing, police and event volunteers rushed to tend to those caught in the cross fire.
  — Robert Moran, Philly.com, 27 June 2018
• The strings lilt and wail until Zauner begins shredding, like the notes can’t come out of her fast enough.
  — Justin Curto, Vulture, 4 June 2021
• In the background, several booms could be heard and an air raid siren began to wail.
  — Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2022
• In a reminder of the risks of such a trip, air-raid sirens wailed in Kyiv, the capital, during Biden’s visit.
  — Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023
• When the tornado sirens wailed, everyone fled to the basement to wait it out.
  — The Indianapolis Star, 20 Apr. 2023
• The idea of concealing a vegetable in a meal has, of course, been around since the first toddler learned to wail at a plate of limp broccoli.
  — Ella Quittner, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2022
• Three engines and a squad car showed up, sirens wailing and horns honking.
  — Chronicle Staff, SFChronicle.com, 24 Apr. 2020
• The hollow woo of the air raid siren began to wail as Moran Segal was at home late at night with her three daughters.
  — NBC News, 15 May 2021
• Nurses tended to patients outside in the dark as sirens wailed.
  — Paul Vercammen, CNN, 6 July 2019
• Carrie asked Mike after listening to him wail out the words, to the amusement of their three-year-old son in the backseat.
  — Taysha Murtaugh, Country Living, 14 Oct. 2018
• The current weeping and wailing over the Red Sox is unseemly.
  — Bob Ryan, BostonGlobe.com, 28 July 2023
• Sirens started to wail in the streets as Russian missiles rained on downtown Kyiv.
  — Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2022
• Amid wailing sirens, residents and tourists alike will have to figure out what to do.
  — AZCentral.com, 23 July 2019

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wail

2 of 2 noun

• The wail of the sirens no longer triggers a rush for the shelters.
  — Kostiantyn Khudov, Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2022
• But the voice of the group still manages to jump on top of bars and wail from time to time.
  — Staff Author, Peoplemag, 20 Dec. 2022
• The four-banger let out a full-throated wail over 5,600 rpms that would wake the dead.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 7 Dec. 2019
• The small hairs on the back of the neck stand up as the distinctive wail of the bagpipes begins.
  — Freep.com, 10 June 2022
• The wail of an ambulance siren can take you to a dark place.
  — Stephen Collinson and Shasta Darlington, CNN, 21 Apr. 2020
• The wail of the siren ripped into our ears and propelled us onto the floor.
  — Kate Tsurkan, The New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2022
• The woman’s wails could be heard as the honor guard gently closed the doors.
  — Mariam Khan, ABC News, 11 Feb. 2020
• From the basement’s inner depths came the echo of a newborn’s wail.
  — Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2022
• But her tirade was cut short by the piercing wail of an air raid siren.
  — Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com, 2 June 2018
• His wails will break your heart, even if this might be the only way to keep him safe.
  — Shannon Carlin, refinery29.com, 30 Mar. 2020
• Beirut was an assault on the senses: the crunch of glass under tyres, the wail of sirens, the acrid smell of smoke.
  — The Economist, 5 Aug. 2020
• Commotion muffled the sound, yet the wail managed to break through the noise.
  — Samantha Leach, Glamour, 3 Dec. 2019
• The wail of ambulances in the background was a constant.
  — Gary Rivlin, Time, 2 Nov. 2022
• The woman’s wails pierced the night sky as a light mist started coming down.
  — Mariam Khan, ABC News, 11 Feb. 2020
• There were wails from inside, and the air smelled of gunpowder.
  — Susannah George, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2023
• But the sound hardens and sharpens with rpm to a bright, full-throated wail.
  — Dan Neil, WSJ, 26 Apr. 2018
• But just hearing her wail had to have been difficult for the rest of you, right?
  — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2022
• The noise is hard to talk over at full wail, but the sounds are comfortable at cruising speeds.
  — Frank Markus, Car and Driver, 1 Aug. 2023
• The zoo said that sonograms had shown that this dog's unique wail is similar to the song of the humpback whale.
  — Katie Hunt, CNN, 31 Aug. 2020
• As the days passed, the wail of sirens to and from the hospital came ever more frequently.
  — Ian Johnson, The New York Review of Books, 4 June 2020
• The main noises were the crackling of the blankets and the occasional laugh or wail of a small child.
  — John C. Moritz/usa Today Network Austin Bureau, USA TODAY, 13 July 2019
• The baby who was the product of that attack wails in his 8-year-old sister’s arms.
  — Washington Post, 5 July 2018
• These days, the wail of ambulance sirens never seems to fall silent.
  — New York Times, 23 Jan. 2021
• The cries of the women outside a Tehran courthouse swell to a collective wail.
  — Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, 23 Jan. 2023
• America was ready to come inside and learn how to jive an’ wail.
  — Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, 29 May 2018
• In that absence there will forever be a wail, a prayer.
  — Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Sep. 2022
• The wails of pain of those who loved 20-year-old Murtada al-Muhamadawi are soul crushing.
  — Arwa Damon, CNN, 9 Oct. 2019
• The sounds of water lapping on the rocks, seagulls squawking, and the wail of a loon mesmerize us.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 14 Apr. 2021
• As the procession moved into the cemetery, the wail of an air-raid siren started.
  — Serhiy Morgunov, Washington Post, 10 Sep. 2022
• Others stand at the doors and wail, at times pounding on doors and walls while screaming to be released.
  — Dave Boucher, Freep.com, 13 Oct. 2022

Last Updated: 6 May 2024