woe
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wəʊ/
enpr: wō
ipa: /woʊ/
rhymes: -əʊ
homophone: whoa (wine–whine merger)
Forms: form: woes
Etymology: From Middle English wo, wei, wa, from Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *wai, from Proto-Germanic *wai (interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (interjection).
See also Dutch wee, German Weh, weh, Danish ve, Yiddish וויי (vey); also Latin vae, Albanian vaj, French ouais, Ancient Greek οὐαί (ouaí), Persian وای (vây) (Turkish vay, a Persian borrowing), Proto-Slavic *uvy (whence Russian увы́ (uvý)), and Armenian վայ (vay).
Senses: examples: text: Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose / That well-known name awakens all my woes.
ref: 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:
text: But if there was a competition between a ſick family and a new broach, the broach was ſure to carry the day. This would not have been the caſe, had they been habituated to viſit themſelves the abodes of penury and woe.
ref: 1808, [Hannah More], chapter VI, in Cœlebs in Search of a Wife. […], volume I, London: […] [Strahan and Preston] for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 68–69:
text: The Friday night rains which wrecked families in Kurabarahalli saw all the three major political parties making a beeline to express their condolences, listen to their woes and provide compensation in the hope of garnering their goodwill ahead of the 2018 assembly elections.
ref: October 14 2017, Sandeep Moudgal, The Times of India, Rains devastate families, political parties make beeline to apply balm on open wounds
synonyms: word: grief
word: sorrow
word: misery
word: blueness
word: mirthless
word: blues
word: crestfallenness
word: dejection
word: depression
word: despondency
word: distress
word: dolefulness
word: downheartedness
word: drearihead
word: forlornness
word: grief
word: heartsore
word: ill-being
word: infelicity
word: melancholia
word: melancholy
word: misery
word: mishappiness
word: mourn
word: prosternation
word: regret
word: rue
word: ruth
word: sadness
word: sorrow
word: sorrowfulness
word: tristfulness
word: undelight
word: unhappiness
word: woe
word: woefare
word: wretchedness
glosses: Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
examples: text: And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 8:13:
text: Don't let the little woes of life harm you / Let the joy in the life you lead / Let it charm you / Let it charm you now
ref: 1980, Chaka Khan, “Nothing's Gonna Take You Away”, in Naughty (Chaka Khan album):
synonyms: word: adversity
word: adversity
word: apocalypse
word: calamity
word: catastrophe
word: disaster
word: misery
word: qualm
word: woe
glosses: Calamity, trouble.
examples: text: Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
glosses: A curse; a malediction.
Synonyms: word: affliction
word: aggrievance
word: distress
word: grief
word: grievance
word: hardship
word: misery
word: ruth
word: sadness
word: sorrow
word: undelight
word: vexation
word: woe
word: wrong
Hypernyms: word: accident
word: disaster
word: test
Hyponyms: word: black day
word: dark cloud
word: injustice
word: regret
word: sob story
Derived terms: for weal or woe
in weal and woe
tale of woe
woebegone
woe betide
woeful
woe is me
woe is I
woe to
Related terms: word: oppression
word: ordeal
word: wringer
word: woe is me