wail.
To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
Meaning & usage
To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
To make a noise like mourning or crying.
The wind wailed and the rain streamed down.
To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
to wail one's death
To perform with great liveliness and force.
Where this word comes from
c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wáy. The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14ᵗʰ c.. The noun came from the verb.
A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.
She let out a loud, doleful wail.
Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.
The wail of snow-dark winter winds.
A bird's wail in the night.
A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.
Where this word comes from
c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wáy. The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14ᵗʰ c.. The noun came from the verb.
Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”).
Where this word comes from
From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.