as in boo
used to express sorrow or distress
ah, woe, with the death of the last of my siblings I am alone in this world!
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in distress
a state of great suffering of body or mind
a tale of misery and woe
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sorrow
deep sadness especially for the loss of someone or something loved
the incessant woe that has haunted her since the death of her husband
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of woe
Rose Evans, Idaho Statesman, 17 Oct. 2025
Despite geopolitical woes and tariff jitters, Vitelli said the high-end nautical world is weathering the storm.
—Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2025
LaMalfa worries about the future of American farming and blames onerous regulations and trade policies for some of its woes.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2025
As the narrator, a professor separated from his wife, obsessively researches the death, his investigation fuels his parenting and relationship woes and leads him into a thicket of conspiracy theories.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woe
Noun
City spending, budget woes shape City Council race The desire to tighten the city’s budget belt was another refrain that appeared to play well with the crowd.
—Rose Evans, Idaho Statesman, 17 Oct. 2025
Despite geopolitical woes and tariff jitters, Vitelli said the high-end nautical world is weathering the storm.
—Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2025
LaMalfa worries about the future of American farming and blames onerous regulations and trade policies for some of its woes.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2025
As the narrator, a professor separated from his wife, obsessively researches the death, his investigation fuels his parenting and relationship woes and leads him into a thicket of conspiracy theories.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for woe
Noun
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Because of that, diabetes distress has been linked to other serious mental health issues.—
Lauren J. Young,
Scientific American,
14 Oct. 2025
-
Family members of the victims filed defamation and emotional distress lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, where Jones’ Infowars talk show is based.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Running underneath all of our efforts was heartache, sorrow, and anxiety over her loss.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Oct. 2025
-
In early Christian thinking, its connotations of languor and listlessness, within the spirit no less than the body, lent it the status of a sin—a turning aside from God for the sake of earthly sorrow.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Aches and pains don’t compare to the agony of an unrealized dream.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
13 Oct. 2025
-
But this specific take on the agony and the, well, extra helping of agony that parenthood often feels like is all hers.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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It's been a consistently reliable genre in the decades since, pairing mental anguish and unreliable perspectives with nightmarish imagery and terrors that lie just beyond our perceptions.—
Steven Thrash,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Oct. 2025
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Through his music, Carrillo transforms personal anguish into empowering anthems, elevating moments of silence into rich, melodic soundscapes and celebrating the beauty of struggle itself.—
Jessica Roiz,
Billboard,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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While most of us on the plane were in this same unexpected predicament, a passenger nearby didn't seem to be sharing in our misery thanks to a compact gadget propped up their phone to the perfect viewing height.—
Anita Katee,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Oct. 2025
-
His matchup against Minnesota could add to the misery.—
Brad Evans,
New York Times,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Ari Aster's sophomore directorial effort might seem like another atmospheric cultish folk horror, but the film uses the genre as a symbolic journey for the overcoming of grief and shedding one life for another.—
Steven Thrash,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Caregiver support groups and therapy have been essential in navigating my grief.—
David Oliver,
USA Today,
19 Oct. 2025
Interjection
-
In the north of the British Isles, people sometimes combined ye, a second person plural pronoun for you, along with aw, meaning all.—
Bill Chappell,
NPR,
16 July 2025
-
And then … aw, just cue up the video player for the epic Francisco Lindor homer that won this thing!—
Jayson Stark,
The Athletic,
27 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
For adults, lead poisoning can cause abdominal pain, muscle weakness, kidney dysfunction, and hypertension.—
Peter Aitken,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Oct. 2025
-
Wehling believed inflammation is at the root of joint pain and that human blood contained a remedy.—
Justin Fenner,
Robb Report,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Woe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/woe. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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