mourn

[ mawrn, mohrn ]

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.

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

/ 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)

Other Words From

• over·mourn verb
• un·mourned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mourn¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of mourn¹

Old English murnan; compare Old High German mornēn to be troubled, Gothic maurnan to grieve, Greek mermeros worried

Synonym Study

See grieve.

Example Sentences

It has also brought more people to the group’s Facebook page, where 10,000-plus followers were already paying attention to these issues — before the movie, before the online fighting, before a plea from a mother in mourning for people to listen.

From Washington Post

Former Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan van Capelle also mourned Vázquez.

From Washington Blade

The post SEO community mourns Hamlet Batista, advocate for automation in SEO and beloved friend appeared first on Search Engine Land.

From Search Engine Land

Instead of mourning the loss of this season’s rec basketball league, have your kid invite a couple of friends from last year’s team for a hike.

From Outside Online

Lisa Howze said the omissions only added to her anger and pain as she mourned her mother.

From ProPublica

Followers had traveled many miles to mourn the loss, and aid in the ritual washing, dressing, and honoring of the body.

From The Daily Beast

So while mourning the closing of De Robertis, consider that we might someday mourn the bankruptcy of whatever chain replaces it.

From The Daily Beast

In Ferguson, Missouri, the bullet-ridden body of Michael Brown lies on a slab somewhere, and his parents await justice, and mourn.

From The Daily Beast

Mourn so enthusiastically that you end up neglecting your own family.

From The Daily Beast

But, much as we might mourn the losses, why should the United States be in the business of trying to hold it all together now?

From The Daily Beast

"Dad and Hans Rutter, as you know, weren't the sort of men to sit around and mourn over anything like that," she laughed.

From Project Gutenberg

And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall sit desolate on the ground.

From Project Gutenberg

And its watery places shall be dry, all they shall mourn that made pools to take fishes.

From Project Gutenberg

How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?

From Project Gutenberg

The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with sorrow, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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