Showing results for "wailing"

• present participle of wail.

wailing

American  

[wey-ling] / ˈweɪ lɪŋ /

adjective

1. uttering a prolonged, inarticulate, mournful cry, usually high-pitched or clear-sounding, as in grief or suffering.

   In the village we passed a funeral procession, the wailing widow following behind the body of her husband.

2. making a mournful sound, as a siren, music, the wind, etc..

   A wailing police siren nears, passes, and fades.

3. complaining, protesting, whining, or crying.

   He rubbed the bare foot of the wailing toddler and planted a kiss on it.

   They’re always trying to correct the market, usually in the interests of some wailing pressure group.

4. Slang. expressing emotion musically or verbally in an exciting, satisfying way.

   The song celebrates with a Cajun-flavored stomp accompanied by a wailing fiddle and screaming electric guitar.

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noun

wailings plural

1. a mournful cry or sound, or the act of making such a sound.

   The wailing of the mourners rose and fell, merging with the drums and the shaman’s chants.

2. an act or instance of complaining, protesting, etc..

   “All art is propaganda, despite the wailing of purists,” she sneered.

3. Slang. the act of expressing emotion musically or verbally in an exciting, satisfying way.

   At this live show from 1974, the soulful wailing of the chorus in the background is utterly spine-tingling.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unwailing
  adjective
• wailingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wailings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wailing

First recorded in 1350–1400; wail ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; wail ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun senses

Example Sentences

This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters.

From BBC • May 21, 2026

The wailing sound you just heard was a Cleveland Browns fan screaming Why do I do this to myself?

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

The 17-year-old Pliny was at Misenum, approximately 18 miles from the volcano, but even there “you could hear the wailing of women, the cries of babies, the shouting of men.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

The All-Stars do their brash, spectacular thing, and a lot of that is wailing away, although they could also be mysterious.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2025

They didn’t pay any attention to me but continued wailing and kicking against the dirt.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• sobbing
• weeping