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
-
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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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
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
Arsenal, for instance, used to bemoan its trips to Stoke City, a scrappy, physical team that made set pieces its bread and butter, because it had no hope of winning otherwise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
Many bemoan the interruption of the international break – Liverpool are currently struggling so badly they may just welcome the chance to clear their heads.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2025
There were several others, among them Kali’s, and she came to bemoan the result.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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
He is absolutely not on his own but when Amorim bemoans a failure of his side to score, Garnacho is at least partly responsible.
From BBC ● May 22, 2025
She bemoans that she had to pay for her interpreter to manage treatment.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2025
Though LBJ bemoans, “This was supposed to be my ‘Hamilton!’” at class’s end, the sold-out return of an original Elysian Theater favorite proves Zimmerman’s not throwing away their shot.—J.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
I fear Mr. Laurance unduly bemoans and magnifies a mistake, which, whatever its baleful intent, has suffered in my rude inhospitable hands an 'untimely nipping in the bud,' and most ingloriously failed of consummation.
From Infelice by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans
London cabdriver Mark Hart, awaiting a fare outside Harrods, bemoaned the foreign-plated “snazzy wagons” he said often take space in taxi-only lanes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
One artist bemoaned that she had to “flatten and suppress her real self” to engage her audience.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 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
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
As Calixte had bemoaned, most of the theories were martial ones, involving conquest, weapons, and defense.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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
Regis Le Bris' side showed why they sit eighth with a dogged first-half showing that left the Arsenal crowd again bemoaning a lack of creativity from open play.
From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 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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