wailing

American  

[wey-ling] / ˈweɪ lɪŋ /

adjective

1. uttering a prolonged, inarticulate, mournful cry, usually high-pitched or clear-sounding, as in grief or suffering.

   In the village we passed a funeral procession, the wailing widow following behind the body of her husband.

2. making a mournful sound, as a siren, music, the wind, etc..

   A wailing police siren nears, passes, and fades.

3. complaining, protesting, whining, or crying.

   He rubbed the bare foot of the wailing toddler and planted a kiss on it.

   They’re always trying to correct the market, usually in the interests of some wailing pressure group.

4. Slang. expressing emotion musically or verbally in an exciting, satisfying way.

   The song celebrates with a Cajun-flavored stomp accompanied by a wailing fiddle and screaming electric guitar.

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noun

1. a mournful cry or sound, or the act of making such a sound.

   The wailing of the mourners rose and fell, merging with the drums and the shaman’s chants.

2. an act or instance of complaining, protesting, etc..

   “All art is propaganda, despite the wailing of purists,” she sneered.

3. Slang. the act of expressing emotion musically or verbally in an exciting, satisfying way.

   At this live show from 1974, the soulful wailing of the chorus in the background is utterly spine-tingling.

Other Word Forms

• unwailing
  adjective
• wailingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of wailing

First recorded in 1350–1400; wail ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; wail ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun senses

Example Sentences

Wailing relatives approached the town’s medical workers, not knowing where to take the dead.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 27, 2023

Wailing away on his Gibson Les Paul, with its custom paint job in full flower, he's not doing it for us.

From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022

Wailing guitar gods, larger-than-life rock ’n’ roll personas — all these things seem a bit passé in our more personalized social media era in which music genre boundaries are elastically fluid.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2021

A symbolic extension of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the artwork is a “wall for healing,” Abramovic told Reuters in an interview ahead of the ceremony.

From Reuters • Oct. 6, 2021

At the Wailing Wall, Jews in yarmulkes were tucking tiny notes and prayers into cracks between stones.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

Related Words

• sobbing
• weeping