LAMENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lament mean? 

• LAMENT (noun)
  The noun LAMENT has 3 senses:

1. a cry of sorrow and grief

2. a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

3. a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

  Familiarity information: LAMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

• LAMENT (verb)
  The verb LAMENT has 2 senses:

1. express grief verbally

2. regret strongly

  Familiarity information: LAMENT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cry of sorrow and grief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

lament; lamentation; plaint; wail

Context example:

their pitiful laments could be heard throughout the ward

Hypernyms ("lament" is a kind of...):

complaint ((formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow)

Derivation:

lament (express grief verbally)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

coronach; dirge; lament; requiem; threnody

Hypernyms ("lament" is a kind of...):

song; vocal (a short musical composition with words)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lament"):

keen (a funeral lament sung with loud wailing)

Derivation:

lament (express grief verbally)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A mournful poem; a lament for the dead

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

elegy; lament

Hypernyms ("lament" is a kind of...):

poem; verse form (a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines)

Derivation:

lament (express grief verbally)

• LAMENT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lament    ... he / she / it laments   
Past simple: lamented   
Past participle: lamented   
-ing form: lamenting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express grief verbally

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

keen; lament

Context example:

we lamented the death of the child

Hypernyms (to "lament" is one way to...):

express emotion; express feelings (give verbal or other expression to one's feelings)

"Lament" entails doing...:

grieve; sorrow (feel grief)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

lament (a mournful poem; a lament for the dead)

lament (a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person)

lament (a cry of sorrow and grief)

lamentation (the passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief)

lamentation (a cry of sorrow and grief)

lamenter (a person who is feeling grief (as grieving over someone who has died))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Regret strongly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bemoan; bewail; deplore; lament

Context example:

we lamented the loss of benefits

Hypernyms (to "lament" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They lament that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

lamentable (bad; unfortunate)

lamenter (a person who is feeling grief (as grieving over someone who has died))

 Context examples 

I mean to be too rich to lament or to feel anything of the sort.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It is not pity that you feel; you lament only because the victim of your malignity is withdrawn from your power.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I have heard him lamenting her having no instrument repeatedly; oftener than I should suppose such a circumstance would, in the common course of things, occur to him.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And Mr. Brooke looked so contented and cheerful that Meg was ashamed to lament her hard lot.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After breakfast, the girls walked to Meryton to inquire if Mr. Wickham were returned, and to lament over his absence from the Netherfield ball.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“And not one of you to get a knife!” was his unceasing lament.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This time Martin nodded, and Joe lamented, "Wish I was."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“From the point of view of the criminal expert,” said Mr. Sherlock Holmes, “London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There’s a touch of the late lamented Sixteen-string Jack about the trick.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)