Trivia Time

Which song is a lament?

Test Your Knowledge

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

The third, on “I’m Doun for Lack o’ Johnnie,” is the emotional focal point of the Fantasy, a lament both intimate and universal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 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 that I can see no flaw in this bitter axiom.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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

Kim laments not having any close contacts working at either chip company, or even knowing someone who’s dating an employee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

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

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

“We lost our beaches and our trails within two weeks,” resident Rebecca Schwarz lamented as she stood with her partner, Todd, and their border collie, Bodie, surveying the Norte fire’s damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Sipping coffee, longtime resident Randy Roche, 54, lamented losing a favorite pastime: cruising the coast highway in one of his classic cars.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Pillay also lamented that "there are hundreds of staff who feel they are under threat".

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026

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

All my brothers except for Sam Houston lamented that they had missed the heroics and the romantic glory.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

What Baldwin is lamenting is our tendency to fall back on binaries — right and wrong, good and evil — rather than to struggle with complexity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

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

He is tempted by Vannacci but will not vote next year, he said, lamenting the lack of a long-term vision for the country.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

She received dozens of letters lamenting the “good old days” of “American” recipes like cola-soaked pork chops, but she didn’t listen.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

“Well, what’s done is done. No use lamenting it. Let’s get some sleep,” I said, yawning.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• bemoan
• deplore
• regret

---