lamentations

Definition of lamentationsnext
plural of lamentation
as in wails
a crying out in grief there was a great lamentation on Wall Street when the government's latest unemployment figures were published

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lamentations These rock lamentations will not be carried over to the full-length album the band still has in the works, which Bono promises will have a more joyful tone. — Chris Willman, Variety, 18 Feb. 2026 The album’s Bandcamp blurb shouts out Ghédalia Tarzatès, the late French composer who collaged his wails and lamentations in the endangered Ladino language to evoke pangs of existential angst. — H.d. Angel, Pitchfork, 6 Feb. 2026 The language surrounding Bailey echoes sentiments from the 1990s and early 2000s, when public revelations of a celebrity’s homosexuality often triggered exaggerated lamentations from straight female fans. — Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025 The previous two Jennings collaborations — 2024’s The Fear of Standing Still and 2020’s Lamentations — are two of Barham’s personal favorites in his entire catalog. — Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 20 Oct. 2025 An artwork from the series Wall of Lamentations by Santiago Montoya that was on view in March at Halcyon Gallery, in London. — Harper’s Magazine, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025 There have been lamentations about the end of an era and anxiety in the fan and creative communities about the risk of over-exploitation of the British super-spy. — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2025 The van pulled into the street, and the crowd followed, muttering lamentations. — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lamentations
Noun
  • No wet plop of a SpongeBob ice cream bar crashing onto hot asphalt; a child’s apocalyptic wails ensuing.
    — Allyson Reedy, Denver Post, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Memory tends to lose sound quickly, but even years later, Jake’s mother’s wails play with the same staccatos and double chords.
    — Caroline Cherston, STAT, 25 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • One of us would be chosen to recite the poem onstage—a kitsch performance, no doubt, so that an auditorium of adults would be moved to tears.
    — Yiyun Li, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The first days of testimony brought tears from witnesses, spectators and jurors, the 9th Street Journal reported.
    — Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Over cries of foul from those who came in person, the board’s attorney Shayla Myers announced the meeting was canceled because the Zoom channel had a capacity of only 1,000.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Lacking life detection equipment, the workers strained to hear their cries.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • That brought groans from a commission where the complaints about the marketing plan outnumbered the defenses.
    — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The good-natured hope from the fanbase dissolved into problematic groans as KC finished 69-93.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 6 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • The other main track of Diamanda’s career is her interpretations of old standards, Gospel songs, laments, and folk tunes.
    — Matt Thompson, SPIN, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Her laments are now laced with fury, as genocidal wars and murderous technologies join global warming in the twenty-first century’s third decade.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The howls of outrage from an undisclosed location in Europe reached our shores.
    — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Their chorus of howls and yowls was all that kept them connected to the hunters who lagged far behind.
    — Paul Schullery, Outdoor Life, 13 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Lori can hardly speak, relying on a young nurse who sits at her side to translate her low, pained moans.
    — Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Wails and moans of grief interspersed the chanting, until the small coffin was lowered into the grave.
    — Victoria Davies, Rolling Stone, 31 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Lamentations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lamentations. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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