Link Centre Dictionary

lamentation

la·men·ta·tion

UK/ˌlæm.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/ US/ˌlæm.ɪnˈteɪ.ʃən/ uncommon

noun

1.

a cry of sorrow and grief

  • “their pitiful laments could be heard throughout the ward”
Synonyms
2.

the passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief

Synonyms

Origin

Recorded since 1375, from Middle English lamentacioun, from Middle French lamentation and its etymon Latin lāmentātiō (“wailing, moaning, weeping”), from the deponent verb lāmentor, from lāmentum (“wail; wailing”), itself from a Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to howl”), presumed ultimately imitative. Replaced Old English cwiþan. By surface analysis, lament + -ation.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.