woe

[woh]

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noun

grievous distress, affliction, or trouble: His woe was almost beyond description.

an affliction: She suffered a fall, among her other woes.

interjection

an exclamation of grief, distress, or lamentation.

Origin of woe

before 900; Middle English wo (interjection and noun), Old English wā (interjection) (cf. wellaway); cognate with Dutch wee, German Weh, Old Norse vei, Latin vae

Synonyms for woe

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR woe ON THESAURUS.COM

1. anguish, tribulation, trial, wretchedness, melancholy. See sorrow.

Antonyms for woe

1. joy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for woe

gloom, misfortune, pain, hardship, catastrophe, calamity, burden, misery, trouble, headache, anguish, tragedy, adversity, disaster, distress, misadventure, dole, unhappiness, affliction, blues

Examples from the Web for woe

Contemporary Examples of woe

Woe be to her if another candidate with the appeal of an ice cream truck happens to drive by.
The Coronation That Wants to Be a Movement: Scenes From Hillary’s Iowa Steak Fry
Ana Marie Cox
September 15, 2014
Woe unto the politicians and parties that fail to grok this, as they will face only bigger and bigger losses in market share.
Hey, Boomers—Millennials Hate Your Partisan Crap
Nick Gillespie
July 10, 2014
Woe to you who have fallen away from the righteousness of your ancestors!
Did the Southern Baptist ‘Conservative Resurgence’ Fail?
Molly Worthen
June 1, 2014
Woe unto thee good people of North Carolina for the Muslims are coming to impose Islamic law.
North Carolina, Your Anti-Sharia Law Takes the Cake
Dean Obeidallah
August 9, 2013
His memoir is not the typical tell-all with tales of woe and abuse.
10 Fascinating Porn Star Memoirs: Aurora Snow on Porn Tell-Alls
Aurora Snow
May 29, 2013

Historical Examples of woe

Did she not break into lamentation and woe that a brother should so demean himself?
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
We could not miss the way, our driver said, and woe betide us if we did!
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
Woe to him who is not the keeper of his own conscience—the supporter of his own resolution!
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
A month will decide the one, perhaps: But what a duration of woe will the other be!
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
Or was it not in that hour—that solemn commune—soothed from its woe?
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for woe

woe

noun

literary intense grief or misery

(often plural) affliction or misfortune

woe betide someone misfortune will befall someonewoe betide you if you arrive late

interjection

Also: woe is me archaic an exclamation of sorrow or distress

Word Origin for woe

Old English wā, wǣ; related to Old Saxon, Old High German wē, Old Norse vei, Gothic wai, Latin vae, Sanskrit uvē; see wail

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for woe

Old English wa, a common exclamation of lament in many languages (cf. Latin væ, Greek oa, German weh, Lettish wai, Old Irish fe, Welsh gwae, Armenian vay). The noun is attested from late 12c., from the interjection.