mourn

American  

[mawrn, mohrn] / mɔrn, moʊrn /

verb (used without object)

1. to feel or express sorrow or grief.

   Synonyms:

   bemoan, bewail

   Antonyms:

   rejoice, laugh

2. to grieve or lament for the dead.

3. to show the conventional or usual signs of sorrow over a person's death.

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verb (used with object)

1. to feel or express sorrow or grief over (misfortune, loss, or anything regretted); deplore.

2. to grieve or lament over (the dead).

3. to utter in a sorrowful manner.

mourn British  

/ mɔːn /

verb

1. to feel or express sadness for the death or loss of (someone or something)

2. (intr) to observe the customs of mourning, as by wearing black

3. (tr) to grieve over (loss or misfortune)

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Related Words

See grieve.

Other Word Forms

• overmourn verb
• unmourned adjective

Etymology

Origin of mourn

First recorded before 900; Middle English mo(u)rnen, Old English murnan; cognate with Old High German mornēn, Old Norse morna, Gothic maurnan

Example Sentences

Suddenly she was a single mother of two daughters, mourning the deaths of her husband from typhoid fever and their first daughter, who died of brain fever.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The Department continues to mourn the loss of our three Arson Explosive Detail Detectives and remains committed to supporting their colleagues and families.”

From Los Angeles Times

The singer's sudden death sparked anger and distress among millions of fans in his home state Assam, and set off a wave of mourning.

From BBC

His contemporaries knew what they had lost; they processed through the streets of Rome in mourning and buried him in the Pantheon.

From The Wall Street Journal

Video posted online shows a mourning ceremony for Parastesh - framed pictures of her nestled among candles and flowers.

From BBC

Related Words

• ache
• agonize
• bemoan
• complain
• cry
• deplore
• fret
• grieve
• lament
• moan
• regret
• sob
• wail
• weep
• yearn