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.
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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
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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:
Read, and weep for the future of America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
Simons charged investors 5% management plus 44% of profits — and billionaires who negotiate prenups that would make Machiavelli weep begged to get in.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 15, 2025
This half-hour comedy offered so many great moments of spot-on commentary about the state of legacy journalism that I wasn’t sure if I should weep or laugh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
Women who weep are seen as "too emotional" while men who mope can be shamed for being soft and vulnerable, she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Knowing he was carrying his father's last masterpiece, the stonecutter's son could not help but begin to weep.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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
In a meticulously crafted stop-motion world of gritty dockside poverty, a starving waif discovers the neglected girl in a shabby home weeps not teardrops but pearls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
Kywe Nyein, 71, weeps as he explains that his family are preparing to hold the funeral of his five-year-old granddaughter, Thet Hter San.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2025
The old man falls forward, arms thrown out in front of him, and weeps with gratitude.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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
VANCOUVER, Canada — When the first men’s World Cup game played in Canada kicked off last week, Anthony Totera sat in the stands and wept.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
In the footage broadcast by state media, women wept over the graves; some carried photos of the deceased.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Hector smiled and looked at them silently, but Andromache took his hand in hers and wept.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Walking back to the car, weeping behind my sunglasses, I was shaky and hot and breathless, my heart hammering in my chest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
The Buddha, seeing him bruised, bloody, and weeping, smiles and tells him he must bear it.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
One of the groups included a weeping mother who had lost her child.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
"No words of compassion can ease this pain of loss, this burden of great suffering, when one must bury young people," the priest told black-clothed mourners, weeping or clutching flowers and holding each other.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
By good fortune, instead of being carried past the island and down the river, he was able to catch hold of a low-hanging streamer of weeping willow and pull himself ashore.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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.
