lamentations
Cries of sorrow
Lamentations are expressions of grief, sorrow, or mourning—the outpouring of anguish over loss or suffering.
The word carries a formal, almost literary weight: The lamentations of the bereaved filled the chapel.
It suggests sustained, vocal grieving rather than quiet sadness. (Capitalized Lamentations is a book of the Bible.)
Deep emotional distress
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- woeGreat sorrow or distress
- heartacheDeep emotional distress
- mourningPeriod following loss
weeping · bereavement · despair · sadness · misery · suffering · tears · keening
Prolonged mournful crying
- cryingEmotional tear release
- sobbingConvulsive crying aloud
- moaningProlonged sound of distress
- groaningEmitting deep, pained sounds
weeping · ululation · keening · outcry · plaint · howling · sighing · bewailing
Mournful commemorative music
- requiemMass for the deceased
- funeralService honoring the dead
- wakePath left in water
- eulogyTribute for the dead
shiva · vigil · memorial · condolences · obituary · interment · cortege · obsequies
Poem lamenting the departed
- threnodyMemorial song of grief
- jeremiadLengthy complaint prophesying doom
- verseMetered poetic passage
- poemMetrical literary composition
ode · complaint · apostrophe · keen · monody · dirge · plaint · rhetoric
Guilt for wrongdoing
- penitenceRemorse for misdeeds
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- repentanceRemorseful rejection of past wrongs
ruefulness · compunction · self-reproach · atonement · confession · shame · apology · sorrow
sorrow
Deep emotional distress
mourning · weeping · bereavement · despair · sadness · misery · suffering · tears · keening · wailing
wailing
Prolonged mournful crying
groaning · weeping · ululation · keening · outcry · plaint · howling · sighing · bewailing · cries
dirge
Mournful commemorative music
eulogy · shiva · vigil · memorial · condolences · obituary · interment · cortege · obsequies · remembrance
elegy
Poem lamenting the departed
poem · ode · complaint · apostrophe · keen · monody · dirge · plaint · rhetoric
remorse
Guilt for wrongdoing
- penitenceRemorse for misdeeds
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- guiltMoral self-reproach
repentance · ruefulness · compunction · self-reproach · atonement · confession · shame · apology · sorrow · disappointment
- mourningfuneral, burial, grief, bereavement, wake
- death literaturemortality, mourning, elegy, requiem, dirge
- elegieselegies, dirges, death poem, keening, keen
- folk songstraditional songs, folk ballads, work songs, lullaby, love songs
- Jewish Musicklezmer, Hanukkah songs, cantor, klezmer band, Birkat Hamazon
- prayersOur Father, morning prayers, Lord's Prayer, daily prayers, evening prayers
lamentationscelebrations
Organized expressions of joy
rejoicings · jubilations · exultations · cheers · festivities
lamentationspraises
Verbally commends
thanksgivings · eulogies · encomiums · accolades · laudations