adjective
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expressing or characterized by sorrow
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bringing or causing woe
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pitiful; miserable
a woeful standard of work
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of woeful
A Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at woe, -ful
Explanation
Something woeful is full of sadness, like the woeful little boy who can't find the stuffed bunny he needs to fall asleep. Use the adjective woeful for people or things affected by misery or sorrow. A woeful expression on your face shows you're sad, and a woeful performance in the big kickball game means your team did so badly that you feel miserable about it. Woeful comes from woe, "great sorrow," and its source, the Old English interjection wa. This ancient woeful expression is still used in many languages today.
Vocabulary lists containing woeful
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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Novel Study: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Chapters 1–6
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The Door in the Wall
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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.
Woeful, a young woman at the table reacts: “I should have voted.”
From Salon • Sep. 28, 2024
The setting also lacks specificity; except for the basketball, the season doesn’t feel as if it takes place in the state of Indiana so much as The State of Our Woeful Nation.
From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2016
Woeful defending but that was postage-stamp stuff from Mahrez.
From The Guardian • Dec. 14, 2015
Woeful that anyone who plays passing football now resembles Arsenal.
From BBC • Dec. 20, 2010
Who is this Woman that beckoneth and warneth me from the Place where she is, and inwhose Eyes is Woeful remembrance?
From The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1 by Japp, Alexander H. (Alexander Hay)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
