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woegreat sorrow or distress

Part of speech: NOUN

Definition: great sorrow or distress

Pronunciation (IPA): /woʊ/

Example Sentences

  • The student's face was full of woe when he realized he had studied for the wrong exam.
  • She told us her tale of woe about losing her phone and wallet on the same day.
  • Woe betide anyone who tries to eat my chocolate without asking!

woe

NOUN

[/woʊ/]

great sorrow or distress

A woman experiences deep woe after receiving devastating family news
💡 Concept

A woman experiences deep woe after receiving devastating family news

Let the tears of woe gently flow, and watch your sorrow slowly go!
🎵 Rhyme

Let the tears of woe gently flow, and watch your sorrow slowly go!

Got the picture? Now let's practice.

🎤Pronunciation

🇺🇸 US/woʊ/
🇬🇧 UK/wəʊ/

🌳Etymology

Rootwoe

Origin

From Old English 'wa' or 'woe', related to Proto-Germanic '*wai', expressing grief or lamentation. The word has Germanic roots and is cognate with similar expressions of sorrow in other Germanic languages.

Breakdown

woe (noun) - a single morpheme with no further breakdown; the complete word itself means great sorrow or distress, with no identifiable prefix or suffix components

🎵Rhyme

goshowknowflow
go
show
know
flow

🔗Collocations

woe is me
tale of woe
woe betide
bring woe
economic woe
cry woe

📝Examples

😄 Fun example

The student's face was full of woe when he realized he had studied for the wrong exam.

She told us her tale of woe about losing her phone and wallet on the same day.

😄 Fun example

Woe betide anyone who tries to eat my chocolate without asking!

📚Related Words

Synonyms

sorrowgriefdistressanguishmisery

Antonyms

joyhappinessbliss

Related

lamentmourndespairtragedy

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