Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To express grief over; lament.
  • transitive verb To express disapproval of or regret for; deplore.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lament; bewail; express sorrow for: as, to bemoan the loss of a son.
  • Reflexively, to bewail one's lot.
  • To pity; feel or express sympathy with or pity for.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To express deep grief for by moaning; to express sorrow for; to lament; to bewail; to pity or sympathize with.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive to complain about; to dismay or worry about something

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb regret strongly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bimonen, alteration (influenced by mone, moan) of bimenen, from Old English bemǣnan : be-, be- + mǣnan, to complain of; see mei-no- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • For the retentive types who extra time on their hands to copy-edit others’ posts: yes I know how bemoan is actually spelled.

    Chick-lit strikes back 2009

  • Every year those of us engaged in the world of books and the written word bemoan losses in publishing.

    Marcia Meier: At Least She's Writing... 2008

  • Replays showed the striker was offside as Huth played the ball on in a crowded penalty area, leaving the Derby County manager, Nigel Clough, to bemoan his luck.

    Stoke City's cup concentration pays dividends at Derby County 2012

  • Mourinho described the second leg in Barcelona as "mission impossible" as he continued to bemoan his side's treatment by the referee.

    Messi Leads Barcelona Over Madrid AP 2011

  • Replays showed the striker was offside as Huth played the ball on in a crowded penalty area, leaving the Derby County manager, Nigel Clough, to bemoan his luck.

    Stoke's concentration on the cups pays dividends at Derby 2012

  • And so, finally, as others bemoan the death of American leadership, a candidate has the hubris to invoke a grand dream and the media and others pile on.

    Rick Tumlinson: Big Ideas in Small Times Rick Tumlinson 2012

  • Mourinho described the second leg in Barcelona as "mission impossible" as he continued to bemoan his side's treatment by the referee.

    Messi Leads Barcelona Over Madrid AP 2011

  • And so, finally, as others bemoan the death of American leadership, a candidate has the hubris to invoke a grand dream and the media and others pile on.

    Rick Tumlinson: Big Ideas in Small Times Rick Tumlinson 2012

  • It noted that if it did repatriate cash it could change the company's effective tax rate; companies typically bemoan the high taxes on repatriated cash, and hope the U.S. government declares a temporary tax break on repatriation as it has occasionally done in the past.

    Hasbro Profit Slips 15% on Weak Board-Game Sales Maxwell Murphy 2011

  • And so, finally, as others bemoan the death of American leadership, a candidate has the hubris to invoke a grand dream and the media and others pile on.

    Rick Tumlinson: Big Ideas in Small Times Rick Tumlinson 2012

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