woe

Noun
Synonyms: sufferingwoefulness

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. misery resulting from afflictionSynonyms: suffering
  2. intense mournfulnessSynonyms: woefulness
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Woe \Woe\, a. Woeful; sorrowful. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

His clerk was woe to do that deed. --Robert of Brunne. [1913 Webster]

Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

And looking up he waxed wondrous woe. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

Woe \Woe\, n. [OE. wo, wa, woo, AS. w[=a], interj.; akin to D. wee, OS. & OHG. w[=e], G. weh, Icel. vei, Dan. vee, Sw. ve, Goth. wai; cf. L. vae, Gr. ?. [root]128. Cf. Wail.] [Formerly written also wo.] [1913 Webster]

1.Grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity. [1913 Webster]

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
[They] weep each other's woe.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

2.A curse; a malediction. [1913 Webster]

Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?— South.[1913 Webster]

Note: Woe is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow. " Woe is me! for I am undone." --Isa. vi. 5. [1913 Webster]

O! woe were us alive [i.e., in life].— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!— Isa. xlv. 9.[1913 Webster]

Woe worth, Woe be to. See Worth, v. i. [1913 Webster]

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, That costs thy life, my gallant gray!— Sir W. Scott.[1913 Webster]
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