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lament

American  

[luh-ment] / ləˈmɛnt /

verb (used with object)

• laments,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lamented,
  past participle,  past
• lamenting
  present participle

1. 

   to feel or express sorrow or regret for.

   to lament his absence.

   Synonyms:

   deplore, bemoan, bewail

2. to mourn for or over.

   Synonyms:

   deplore, bemoan, bewail

---

verb (used without object)

• laments,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lamented,
  past participle,  past
• lamenting
  present participle

1. to feel, show, or express grief, sorrow, or regret.

   Synonyms:

   weep, grieve

2. to mourn deeply.

   Synonyms:

   weep, grieve

noun

• laments
  plural

1. an expression of grief or sorrow.

   Synonyms:

   moan, lamentation

2. a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or song; an elegy or dirge.

   Synonyms:

   threnody, monody

lament British  

/ ləˈmɛnt /

verb

1. to feel or express sorrow, remorse, or regret (for or over)

---

noun

1. an expression of sorrow

2. a poem or song in which a death is lamented

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lamenter
  noun
• lamentingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• laments
  plural

Participles

• lamenting
  present
• lamented
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lament
  simple
• laments
  simple
• have lamented
  perfect
• has lamented
  perfect
• am lamenting
  progressive
• are lamenting
  progressive
• is lamenting
  progressive
• have been lamenting
  perfect progressive
• has been lamenting
  perfect progressive

Past

• lamented
  simple
• had lamented
  perfect
• was lamenting
  progressive
• were lamenting
  progressive
• had been lamenting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lament
  simple
• will have lamented
  perfect
• will be lamenting
  progressive
• will have been lamenting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of lament

First recorded in 1520–30; (noun) from Latin lāmentum “plaint”; (verb) from Latin lāmentārī, derivative of lāmentum

Explanation

If you are really upset or sorry about something, you might lament it. A lament is full of regret and grief. If you lament something, then you feel sorry about it. You could lament a mistake you made, or you could lament a horrible thing that happened to a friend. Also, a lament is an expression of grief. So if you keep saying how sorry you are about something, someone could say, "Enough of your laments!" There's also an old literary form called "a lament," which expresses feelings of loss in a long dramatic poem.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lament laments lamented lamenting

Her pure, warm soprano shone especially in the lament “Lungi da te, mio bene” with its mournful horn accompaniment, as Sifare realizes the hopelessness of his and Aspasia’s love.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Life begins as a fanfare — a regal entry heralded by brass — and ends as a solo cello lament and the serene acceptance of death as sung by a choir.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

New graduates lament that while their college professors discouraged the use of AI tools, hiring managers applaud it.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Cassidy closed with what sounded like a lament.

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026

“I lament sorely that I was born to poverty,” he once told a friend.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow

McVay laments, usually lightheartedly, the loss of staff members that have ascended to become head coaches.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

As she formulates her proposal for a better answer, Ms. Horn laments that a knowledge of Jewish civilization is part of a “null curriculum”—history that is ignored in most American classrooms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Standing in front of his mural, depicting the face of a girl with a feathered headdress, he laments that many artists were victims of the gangs and are now "disappeared."

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

"These small windows that the world sees, the little openings here and there including secret schools for girls, are just meant to fool everybody," she laments with visible sadness.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Sarai thought of Ruby’s envious laments about how she “got to live.”

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

The blockbuster franchise has moved away from its emphasis on storytelling to prioritize big fights and action sequences, the “Spider-Noir” actor lamented during a recent appearance at Fan Expo Dallas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Even captain Callum McGregor lamented Celtic's "team of individuals" after the weekend defeat at Ibrox.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Others lamented the death of a “part of their childhood.”

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

"In France and Italy, they are hiring, whereas in Germany, we are only cutting jobs," Bremm lamented, saying that governments in Paris and Rome seemed to be lobbying the parent company more aggressively.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

“It wasn’t a cozy gang,” Kamen lamented in a letter to McMillan after the Rad Lab Christmas party that year, attended by scores of strangers.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Another used A.I. to animate a photo of Walters, the digital replica lamenting his sentence of “death by incarceration.”

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

"The markets are very cruel," he told AFP on the sidelines of the conference, lamenting the barriers that smallholders producing organic food face in reaching consumers.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Some in Labour were unhappy when Lennon didn't make the ballot for this contesting, lamenting a lack of breadth in the contest.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

I gave the staff at each of them my sob story, lamenting over my lost wedding dress.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

American Correctional Association President Gwendolyn Chunn put the matter more bluntly that same year when lamenting that the unprecedented prison expansion boom of the 1990s seemed to be leveling off.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• bemoan
• deplore
• regret