weep
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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weeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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wept,
past participle, past
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weeping
present participle
verb (used with object)
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weeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wept,
past participle, past
-
weeping
present participle
-
to weep for (someone or something); mourn with tears or other expression of sorrow.
He wept his dead brother.
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to shed (tears); pour forth in weeping.
to weep tears of gratitude.
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to let fall or give forth in drops.
trees weeping an odorous gum.
-
to pass, bring, put, etc., to or into a specified condition with the shedding of tears (usually followed by away, out, etc.).
to weep one's eyes out;
to weep oneself to sleep.
noun
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weeping, or a fit of weeping.
-
the exudation of water or liquid.
noun
verb
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to shed (tears) as an expression of grief or unhappiness
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to utter, shedding tears
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to mourn or lament (for something)
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to exude (drops of liquid)
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(intr) (of a wound, etc) to exude a watery or serous fluid
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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weepsimple
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weepssimple
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have weptperfect
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has weptperfect
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am weepingprogressive
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are weepingprogressive
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is weepingprogressive
-
have been weepingperfect progressive
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has been weepingperfect progressive
Past
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weptsimple
-
had weptperfect
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was weepingprogressive
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were weepingprogressive
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had been weepingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of weep1
First recorded before 900; Middle English wepen, Old English wēpan “to wail”; cognate with Gothic wōpjan “to call,” Old Norse æpa “to cry out”
Origin of weep2
Imitative
Explanation
When you weep, you cry. If you're very empathetic, you might start to weep whenever you see other people weep. To shed tears from sadness is to weep. Some people weep rarely, only when they've suffered a true loss or tragedy. Other sensitive souls weep at songs, movies, books, and even sweet stories or pictures. Weep comes from the Old English word wepan, "shed tears or mourn over," which has a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cry or scream."
Vocabulary lists containing weep
Instead of "Said": Words For Sad Speech
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"Dragon, Dragon"
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The White Album
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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:
"We were forced to leave because of the Houthis," she told AFP, adding: "My children are still there -- they couldn't get out. I weep for them every day, waiting for them to escape."
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Then we drive off and weep in the car,” says Lisa.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
All I wanted then was to sink into a pot of chicken-and-rice stew and weep.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2025
There is a sense of disbelief in this Sierra Leonean village as people weep in front of the bodies of two teenage boys wrapped in white cloth.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
"Make me weep from a hundred kilometers away!"
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
Daniela Lopez, 40, weeps as she speaks with the psychologist.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
No college basketball fan weeps for the Blue Devils’ bad luck, but Duke knows better than most that a great regular season doesn’t guarantee a championship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
After a final goodbye, Glinda hides away and weeps while watching Dorothy melt Elphaba — a sequence shown only in shadow, through the crack of a closet door.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
In his national address on Wednesday, President Sánchez urged citizens to remain vigilant and pledged a full recovery, telling victims: “The whole of Spain weeps with you… we won’t abandon you.”
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2024
“Yes, and for this he weeps in the night, and this is why he is so pale and so reedy a lad,” answered the eldest son.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
He renders the original’s panoply of suffering in accessible English, as in this view of Satan: “With six eyes / He wept, and three chins let the foul tears fall / And bloody foam.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
When Morton heard that Nolan wanted to meet her for “The Odyssey,” she says she wept.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Members of Atticus' family gasped and wept in the court's public gallery after the verdict was read out.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
At a vigil last weekend, community members held placards in solidarity and wept.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
She wept, though for loss of pride or loss of supper none could say.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
What Howrey delivers with “Body Language” is a novel that covers all that ground while keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, alternately howling with laughter, holding their breath awaiting resolution, and weeping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The real return isn’t in hotel occupancy or pounds of ribs sold; it’s in the 90 minutes when 40 million Iraqis narrowed to one—a man weeping over a goal that meant nothing and everything.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Buddha, seeing him bruised, bloody, and weeping, smiles and tells him he must bear it.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
One social media video showed smoke pouring from the upper floors of an apartment block, while a woman behind the camera could be heard weeping in distress.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Leo didn’t know if the Kerkopes were telling them the truth, but it was hard to stay mad at weeping dwarfs, no matter how annoying and badly dressed they were.
From "The House of Hades" 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.
