Link Centre Dictionary

alas

UK/əˈlɑːs/ US/əˈlæs/ fairly common

adverb

1.

by bad luck

  • “unfortunately it rained all day”
  • “alas, I cannot stay”

Origin

From Middle English alas, from Old French a las (French hélas), from a (“ah”) + las, from Latin lassus (“weary”). Compare Dutch helaas, North Frisian ielas, West Frisian eilaas.

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.