Library / English Dictionary

WEEP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: wept   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain

Example:

The girl in the wheelchair wept with frustration when she could not get up the stairs

Synonyms:

cry; weep

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "weep" is one way to...):

express emotion; express feelings (give verbal or other expression to one's feelings)

Verb group:

cry (bring into a particular state by crying)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "weep"):

mewl; pule; wail; whimper (cry weakly or softly)

bawl (cry loudly)

tear (fill with tears or shed tears)

sob (weep convulsively)

blub; blubber; sniffle; snivel; snuffle (cry or whine with snuffling)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

weeper (a hired mourner)

weeper (a person who weeps)

weeping (the process of shedding tears (usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds))

Credits

 Context examples: 

She even wept over the idea of it, as a sin of thought.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

My mother was weeping over his poor leg, and he patting her hair with one brown hand.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was awake the whole night, and she wept the greatest part of it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Martin could have wept over that youthful shade of himself, when he thought of all that lay before him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Ebbits nodded his head and wept silently.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Kitty was the only one who shed tears; but she did weep from vexation and envy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Blank silence followed, no one protesting; only the maid lifted her voice and now wept loudly.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The poor girl laid me on her bosom, and fell a weeping with shame and grief.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She did not weep again, but laughed hysterically, and trembled and clung to her friend as if she was a little bewildered by the sudden news.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)