wailing
Americanadjective
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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.
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making a mournful sound, as a siren, music, the wind, etc..
A wailing police siren nears, passes, and fades.
-
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.
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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.
noun
-
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.
-
an act or instance of complaining, protesting, etc..
“All art is propaganda, despite the wailing of purists,” she sneered.
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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
- unwailing adjective
- wailingly adverb
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His team is languishing until Sonny gets behind the wheel and Robert Plant starts wailing and John Bonham begins bashing.
From Los Angeles Times
No, Moore goes for the hard stuff: wailing saxophones, arrhythmic bass lines, drums that follow beats so out of time they might as well come from the deepest reaches of space.
From Los Angeles Times
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
The wailing was so loud that Penelope had to fight the urge not to cover her ears.
From Literature
"He was heard wailing and was warned about his behaviour," Mr Mably KC said.
From BBC
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.
