different between bemoan vs bewail

English

Etymology

From Middle English bemenen, bimenen, from Old English bem?nan (“to bemoan, bewail, lament”); equivalent to be- (“about, concerning”) +? moan. Alteration of vowel from Middle to Modern English due to analogy with moan.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??m??n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??mo?n/
• Rhymes: -??n
• Hyphenation: be?moan

Verb

bemoan (third-person singular simple present bemoans, present participle bemoaning, simple past and past participle bemoaned)

1. (transitive) To moan or complain about (something).

   Synonyms: bewail, lament, mourn

   • 1577, Raphael Holinshed, The Chronicles of England, Scotlande and Irelande, London: John Hunne, “King Richard the seconde,” p. 1075^[1]:

     The losse of this erle was greatly bemoned by men of al degrees, for he was liberal, gentle, humble, and curteous to eche one […]

   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter 1^[2]:

     […] after deliberately marrying General Shaw with no warmer feeling than respect for his character and establishment, [she] was constantly, though quietly, bemoaning her hard lot in being united to one whom she could not love.

   • 1957, Muriel Spark, The Comforters, New York: Avon, 1965, Chapter 7, p. 155^[3]:

     “I am sure you are better off without Mr. Hogg,” Helena would say often when Georgina bemoaned her husband’s desertion.

   • 2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter Nine, p. 112^[4]:

     He’d have told that horrible sister of his that more coloureds had just turned up. How many is it now? they’d have said to each other. Fifty? Sixty? ‘You’ll have to speak to her, Cyril,’ she’d have told him, before bemoaning how respectable this street was before they came.

2. (transitive, reflexive) To be dismayed or worried about (someone), particularly because of their situation or what has happened to them.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II scene v^[5]:

     Son. Was ever son so rued a father’s death?

     Father. Was ever father so bemoan’d his son?

   • 1640, George Abbot, The Whole Booke of Iob Paraphrased, London, Chapter 6, verse 12, pp. 40-41^[6]:

     Sure you take mee not to be made of flesh, or if so, yet not to be sensible that thinke me able to beare these burthens without bemoning my selfe.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 28^[7]:

     My rest might have been blissful enough, only a sad heart broke it. […] It trembled for Mr. Rochester and his doom; it bemoaned him with bitter pity […]

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:

     […] So we cried to him, "O Rais, what is the matter?"; and he replied saying, "Seek ye deliverance of the Most High from the strait into which we have fallen and bemoan yourselves and take leave of one another; for know that the wind hath gotten the mastery of us and hath driven us into the uttermost of the seas of the world."

   • 1987, Tanith Lee, “Children of the Night” in Night’s Sorceries, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, p. 396^[8]:

     “He is come to the town in order to marry a hapless maiden. The lady must be bemoaned.”

Derived terms

• bemoaner
• bemoaning
• bemoaningly
• forebemoaned

Translations

Anagrams

• Beamon, on-beam, onbeam

English

Etymology

From Middle English bewailen, equivalent to be- (“over, about”) +? wail.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??we?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Verb

bewail (third-person singular simple present bewails, present participle bewailing, simple past and past participle bewailed)

1. To wail over; to feel or express deep sorrow for
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act V, Scene 6,^[1]

     […] Though in this city he

     Hath widow’d and unchilded many a one,

     Which to this hour bewail the injury,

     Yet he shall have a noble memory.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 8:52,^[2]

     And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.

   • 1820, William Wordsworth, “The Haunted Tree”^[3]

     […] when the wind

     Blows keenly, it sends forth a creaking sound

     (Above the general roar of woods and crags)

     Distinctly heard from far--a doleful note!

     As if (so Grecian shepherds would have deemed)

     The Hamadryad, pent within, bewailed

     Some bitter wrong.

Synonyms

• bemoan
• grieve
• lament

Derived terms

• bewailable
• bewailer
• bewailing
• bewailment

Translations

Anagrams

• Waibel