Woe Definition

woes
noun
woes
Great sorrow; grief; misery.
Webster's New World
Misfortune or wretchedness.
Listened to his tale of woe.
American Heritage
A cause of sorrow; affliction; trouble.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
interjection
Alas.
Webster's New World
Used to express sorrow or dismay.
American Heritage
adjective
Chaucer.
Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
Wiktionary
Spenser.
And looking up he waxed wondrous woe.
Wiktionary
idiom
woe is me
  • Used to lament one's situation or fate.
American Heritage
woe to (someone)
  • Used to express the wish that misfortune befall someone.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Woe

Noun

Singular:
woe
Plural:
woes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Woe

Origin of Woe

  • From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English , wēa, from Proto-Germanic *wai, whence also Dutch wee, German weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Compare Latin vae.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English wa, wo from Old English woe!

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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