bemoan
Americanverb (used with object)
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bemoans,
present (3rd person singular)
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bemoaned,
past participle, past
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bemoaning
present participle
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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
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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
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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This Week in Words: October 1 - 6, 2017
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
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
Yet Beijing has continued to bemoan the presence of “moles” and bad apples among its enforcers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 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
Angus says producers of other reality shows often bemoan that everyone is getting on and there isn't enough drama.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2025
Unless you write yourself, you can’t know how wonderful it is; I always used to bemoan the fact that I couldn’t draw, but now I’m overjoyed that at least I can write.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Like many chefs, he bemoans National Insurance rises and increasing business rates, but also more local problems like limited car parking and unclean streets, which put off diners.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 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
With bleeding heart he goes agen85 To mark the maiden's groans; And plainly hears, within the den, How she herself bemoans.
From English and Scottish Ballads (volume 3 of 8) by Various
Writing in The Times, Beard bemoaned that the poem's "erotic puzzles, the teasing ironies, the intriguing questions about truth and falsehood" had been replaced with "a rather ponderous Hollywood message about civilisational decline".
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Tottenham's then-head coach Thomas Frank bemoaned the automatic three-match ban, but the club decided against appealing, believing they had no chance of success.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Her colleagues’ execution of Sosa, she bemoaned, “marks yet another low point in this court’s esteem for its precedents.”
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
In her feedback to Altman, Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, bemoaned his chaotic management.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
“When I left the military, I sort of lost my way,” Taske bemoaned in a thick Aussie accent.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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
But she wishes some of those fans had been shopping at her stores on a monthly or quarterly basis in recent years rather than now bemoaning what’s been lost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
"The Olympics only happen every four years and only a very few times in a career," he said, bemoaning the lack of "Olympic atmosphere" in Bormio.
From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026
He was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
