Wail Meaning
/weɪl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
verbTo weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
Sentence Examples
You can cry and wail all you like, no one is going to hear you.
Brenda let out a loud wail at the sight of her dead daughter.
Yanni heard a police car briefly wail its siren outside.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The baby began to ____ loudly when it woke up hungry in the middle of the night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The child began to ____ loudly after she realize that she had lost her favorite toy in the city park today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes"
— 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 3, scene 2]:
"Another outstanding surfer from Hawaii - Fred Hemmings. Fred only stands up on alternate Wednesdays, but when he does, he really wails."
— 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:
"At Boston's Roseland, as "the Count's band was wailing," he grabbed Mamie, an avid dancer. The "band was screaming when she kicked off her shoes and got barefooted"
— 1999, Lewis A. Erenberg, Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture, page 111:
"The band was really wailing as we quickly made our dance moves in a most provocative manner."
— 2012, Robert Lewis Barrett, A Portrait of the First Born As a Child, page 377:
"We had a nondenominational wedding, with a bunch of great Sufi musicians really wailing, and my wildly enthusiastic mother in attendance."
— 2013, Joan Silber, Fools, →ISBN:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The baby began to ____ loudly when it woke up hungry in the middle of the night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The child began to ____ loudly after she realize that she had lost her favorite toy in the city park today.