wail
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To cry out.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
waylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈweɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
intransitive
To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
transitive
To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
intransitive
To make a noise like mourning or crying.
noun
A cry of sorrow and grief
A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.
Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.
A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
Used this way, wail is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Loud cries made while weeping.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.