Meaning

Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness..

Definitions by Sense

1. Great sadness or distress; a misfortune causing such sadness.
2. Calamity, trouble.
3. A curse; a malediction.
4. (obsolete) Woeful; sorrowful
5. (archaic) An exclamation of grief.

Example Sentences

Oh, woe is me!

The Friday night rains which wrecked families in Kurabarahalli saw all the three major political parties making a beeline to express their condolences, listen to their woes and provide compensation in the hope of garnering their goodwill ahead of the 2018 assembly elections.

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.

Soon as thy letters trembling I unclose / That well-known name awakens all my woes.

But if there was a competition between a ſick family and a new broach, the broach was ſure to carry the day. This would not have been the caſe, had they been habituated to viſit themſelves the abodes of penury and woe.

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Don't let the little woes of life harm you / Let the joy in the life you lead / Let it charm you / Let it charm you now

Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

Word Forms

• woes
• more woe
• most woe

Synonyms for woe

Antonyms for woe

Related Words

When Should You Use Woe?

Use woe when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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