1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
the woeful expressions of the players after the humiliating loss
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sad
feeling unhappiness
never saw a more woeful-looking bunch than those campers sitting there in the drenching rain
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in tragic
of a kind to cause great distress
the restaurant patron made the woeful discovery that he had left his wallet at home
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Recent Examples of woeful
Evan Bouchard followed up a woeful performance on Long Island two nights earlier with another poor read.
—
Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
Sean Payton, Bo Nix and the Broncos (3-2) are slated to take on the winless and woeful Jets (0-5) for a Sunday morning breakfast kickoff at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 11 Oct. 2025
Yes, there are good reasons to question NASA's long-term plans for the Artemis lunar program—the woeful cost of the Space Launch System rocket, the complexity of new commercial landers, and a bleak budget outlook.
—Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
Each episode includes the woeful word in place of another.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
Sean Payton, Bo Nix and the Broncos (3-2) are slated to take on the winless and woeful Jets (0-5) for a Sunday morning breakfast kickoff at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 11 Oct. 2025
Yes, there are good reasons to question NASA's long-term plans for the Artemis lunar program—the woeful cost of the Space Launch System rocket, the complexity of new commercial landers, and a bleak budget outlook.
—Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
Each episode includes the woeful word in place of another.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for woeful
Adjective
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The Fitzgerald's final moments shrouded in mystery, Lightfoot's mournful song, the number of lives lost, and the size of the ship alone led her to quickly become the most famous shipwreck in Michigan.—
Sarah Moore,
Freep.com,
4 Nov. 2025
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The zebras pranced, all frisky energy; the elephants, lumbering and mournful, trailed behind with their ancient thoughts.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Everyone's a little sad in The Holdovers, Alexander Payne's charmingly sour comedy about a student stuck at his New England boarding school over the holidays with only his grouchy professor (Paul Giamatti) and the school cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) for company.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Nov. 2025
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The 25-year-old wide receiver is sad to see his teammates go, but trusts the vision of the New York front office.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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In his first interview since the tragic events in May, Cacique, a Spanish nickname given to a local boss, said the turncoats hoped to receive a reward for the capture of Robert Colina, whose alias was Pantera, Spanish for panther.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott joined the rest of his teammates in having a tough day Thursday after learning of the tragic death of defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland, who took his own life at the end of a police chase in Frisco.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.—
David Mamet,
National Review,
11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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Pauline Collins, the exuberant British actress who inspired women — and men, too — to do something to change their unhappy lives with her Oscar-nominated and Olivier- and Tony-winning performances in Shirley Valentine, has died.—
Lisa de los Reyes,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
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That distaste didn’t hurt Spanberger and her ticket, because 18% of those unhappy voters backed her anyway.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Liverpool were competitive in the first half, and perhaps unfortunate to see Virgil van Dijk’s equaliser ruled out for interference from an offside position, but City pressed home their advantage through the brilliance of left-winger Jeremy Doku.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
10 Nov. 2025
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The story takes place at a grand country house where the guests have an unfortunate habit of dying, or nearly dying, under seemingly unrelated circumstances.—
Anna Russell,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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As the title suggests, the book details Turner's tale of a heartbroken widower who became an unlikely senior-citizen TV star on the first season of the reality show, which ended with an engagement to Nist.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Nov. 2025
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Thomas told the outlet that her brother’s diagnosis left their family heartbroken.—
Vanessa Etienne,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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That was pointed out during Chipotle’s earnings report, which showed miserable results at the end of October.—
Jordan Valinsky,
CNN Money,
11 Nov. 2025
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Caesar and Coca were soon joined on the show by the diminutive Howard Morris, whom Caesar could hoist from the ground and glare at face to face, and by Carl Reiner, tall like Caesar but as happy as Sid was miserable—the ideal second banana.—
David Denby,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Woeful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/woeful. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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