bemoan
Americanverb (used with object)
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bemoans,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bemoaned,
past participle, past
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bemoaning
present participle
-
to express distress or grief over; lament.
to bemoan one's fate.
-
to regard with regret or disapproval.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bemoansimple
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bemoanssimple
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have bemoanedperfect
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has bemoanedperfect
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am bemoaningprogressive
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are bemoaningprogressive
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is bemoaningprogressive
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have been bemoaningperfect progressive
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has been bemoaningperfect progressive
Past
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bemoanedsimple
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had bemoanedperfect
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was bemoaningprogressive
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were bemoaningprogressive
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had been bemoaningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bemoan
before 1000; be- + moan; replacing bemene, Middle English bimenen, Old English bimǣnan ( bi- be- + mǣnan to moan)
Explanation
Some people love to complain, don't they? Complainers also tend to bemoan things, which can be translated to "Oh no! Why me?" A more casual expression for bemoan is to moan and groan. If you step in a puddle and get your shoes wet, you might moan and groan about, or bemoan, your bad luck to whoever will listen. Just about any bad or annoying thing can be bemoaned. In fact, people love to bemoan how much other people are moaning and groaning about things!
Vocabulary lists containing bemoan
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But with the domestic season just starting to get interesting, fans tend to bemoan the interruption - no matter the length - and long for the return of club football.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Consumer groups heard all of these companies bemoan how tariffs on China and other Asian countries, in particular, meant they would have no choice but to raise prices.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Rather than bemoan the hours of cycling I was missing, I again thought “downsizing opportunity!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Today, however, we come not to bemoan the bad times but celebrate the good times, for the Angels and Dodgers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
This sounds as though I bemoan an older time, which is the preoccupation of the old, or cultivate an opposition to change, which is the currency of the rich and stupid.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
She's having to rely on her parents to help out, but bemoans the need for them to do so.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
Glenn Whipp bemoans the unlikelihood of Daniel Craig earning an acting nod as sly sleuth Benoit Blanc.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
Wall Street bemoans Mamdani’s win, Trump threatens Jay Powell again, and the Bezos-Sanchez wedding is flashy and splashy.
From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2025
She bemoans that she had to pay for her interpreter to manage treatment.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2025
Lucifer bemoans his fall and altercates with the Chorus of Angels.
From Life of John Milton by Richard Garnett
"I said they looked traitorous and villainous," she bemoaned.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
One artist bemoaned that she had to “flatten and suppress her real self” to engage her audience.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
President Fernández turned up at Rosales’s funeral, and bemoaned that one of the suspects in the case had been repeatedly stopped by police before the killing but remained free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Some see a dark irony: Five years ago, an exasperated President Andrés Manuel López Obrador bemoaned that a corrupt customs regime had allowed organized crime to take over land and maritime ports of entry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
As Calixte had bemoaned, most of the theories were martial ones, involving conquest, weapons, and defense.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
At the same time, nothing irritates him more than when a fellow old-timer “starts bemoaning the state of the industry and how things used to be,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
It was a closely fought match against Pep Guardiola's side, but interim boss Calum McFarlane was left bemoaning the fact "football can be cruel", believing his side deserved at least one penalty.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
In a video, Dr. Becky marks Employee Appreciation Week by bemoaning how uncelebrated parents’ wins often are.
From Slate ● May 10, 2026
The 12 children, whose ages stretch from 9 to the late teens, devote themselves to making fun of the parents, bemoaning society’s demise and camping on the beach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
The transformation of the Khumbu culture is certainly not all for the best, but I didn’t hear many Sherpas bemoaning the changes.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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