woeful
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwəʊfəl/
rhymes: -əʊfəl
Forms: form: woefuller
form: woefullest
form: woful
form: wofull
Etymology: From Middle English woful, waful, equivalent to woe + -ful. Compare Old English wālīċ (“woeful”), Old English tēonful (“woeful”).
Senses: examples: text: How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace!
ref: 1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: miserable
word: woe
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: blitheless
word: dispirited
word: blue
word: bummed out
word: chapfallen
word: cheerless
word: chopfallen
word: crestfallen
word: cut up
word: damp
word: dejected
word: depressed
word: despondent
word: disgruntled
word: disconsolate
word: disheartened
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: down
word: down in the dumps
word: down in the mouth
word: downcast
word: downhearted
word: downsome
word: dull
word: elegiac
word: elegious
word: forlorn
word: gloomy
word: glum
word: grief-stricken
word: grieving
word: heavy-hearted
word: heartsore
word: heartsick
word: inconsolable
word: infelicitous
word: jawfallen
word: joyless
word: lachrymose
word: lamentful
word: low
word: low-spirited
word: lugubrious
word: lumpish
word: melancholic
word: melancholy
word: miserable
word: moody
word: mopey
word: morose
word: mournful
word: passionate
word: plaintive
word: querulous
word: sad
word: saddened
word: saturnine
word: shattered
word: solemn
word: sombre
word: sorrowful
word: sorrow-ridden
word: sorrowsome
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: threnetic
word: threnetical
word: triste
word: tristful
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unconsolable
word: unhappy
word: unlively
word: wistful
word: woe
word: woebegone
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity.
examples: text: a woeful event
text: a woeful lack of restraint
synonyms: word: calamitous
word: disastrous
word: apocalyptic
word: calamitous
word: cataclysmal
word: cataclysmic
word: catastrophic
word: deadly
word: debacular
word: destructive
word: devastating
word: disadventurous
word: disastrous
word: eradicative
word: extirpative
word: fatal
word: harmful
word: lethal
word: pernicious
word: ruinous
word: woeful
glosses: Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction.
examples: text: Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:
This wide and universal theatre
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 1033-36:
synonyms: word: rueful
word: woebegone
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: deplorable
word: depressing
word: distressing
word: grievous
word: miserable
word: lamentable
word: lachrymable
word: mournful
word: pathetic
word: pathetisad
word: pitiable
word: pitiful
word: pitisome
word: regrettable
word: rueful
word: sad
word: saddening
word: sorrowful
word: tragic
word: unhappy
word: upsetting
word: woebegone
word: woeful
glosses: Lamentable, deplorable.
examples: text: What woful stuff this madrigal would be / In some starv'd hackney sonneteer or me!
ref: 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 72:
synonyms: word: inferior
word: shoddy
word: abject
word: base
word: beggarly
word: blameworthy
word: carrion
word: cheap
word: contemptible
word: cringing
word: dedecorous
word: degraded
word: deridable
word: derisible
word: despicable
word: despisable
word: dirty
word: discreditable
word: disdainable
word: disgraceful
word: dishonorable
word: disreputable
word: execrable
word: groveling
word: ignoble
word: ignominious
word: inglorious
word: lame
word: laughable
word: loathsome
word: ludicrous
word: low
word: mean
word: mean-spirited
word: miserable
word: obscene
word: outrageous
word: pitiable
word: pitiful
word: plebeian
word: paltry
word: putrid
word: reprehensible
word: reptile
word: reptilian
word: reptitious
word: ridiculous
word: risible
word: roynish
word: scald
word: scornworthy
word: scummy
word: scurvy
word: shabby
word: shameful
word: sleazy
word: slavish
word: slimy
word: sordid
word: sorry
word: trashy
word: ugly
word: uncommendable
word: uncool
word: unmentionable
word: unwashed
word: unsophisticated
word: unworthy
word: vile
word: vulgar
word: weak
word: worthless
word: wretched
word: ass
word: bad
word: base
word: below par
word: broken
word: bum
word: cheap
word: chintzy
word: crappo
word: crappy
word: craptastic
word: crapperific
word: craptabulous
word: craptacular
word: crummy
word: flimsy
word: inferior
word: lousy
word: low
word: low-grade
word: pitiful
word: poor
word: rinky-dink
word: rubbish
word: sad
word: schlocky
word: shoddy
word: slight
word: slim
word: sorry
word: subpar
word: shitty
word: substandard
word: tin-pot
word: unacceptable
word: unfit
word: unsatisfactory
word: unsound
word: unsuitable
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Wretched; paltry; poor.
Derived terms: woefully
woefulness