From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlamentla‧ment1 /ləˈment/ verb written 1 [intransitive, transitive]SAD/UNHAPPY to express feelings of great sadness about something The nation lamented the death of its great war leader.2 [transitive]ANNOYDISAPPOINTED to express annoyance or disappointment about something you think is unsatisfactory or unfairlament that He lamented that people had expected too much of him too soon. She lamented the fact that manufacturers did not produce small packs for single-person households.lament the lack/absence/decline etc of something Steiner lamented the lack of public interest in the issue.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
lament• "I can remember my first day of school, " Grandpa lamented, "but I can't remember what I had for lunch."• Nigel Mansell will defy critics who lament his departure from Formula One and make a success of Indy 500.• Experts lament that neither the central government nor most states have agencies dedicated to disaster planning.• Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once lamented that since everyone handles money, there are many know-nothings who think they understand economics.• Puzzled successors lamented the complexity of late Beethoven.• A gathering of family and friends lamented the deaths of the two pilots.• During a stop at a beach, Babbitt lamented the intrusion of non-native Tamarisk bushes along the river banks.• For example, many district sales managers lamented the lack of enough qualified leads for account representatives to make their goals.• Will expressed a desire to keep the twenty-two dele-gates and later lamented their loss.lament the lack/absence/decline etc of something• Crossing in Force 9 winds led me to lament the absence of a grab-rail in the shower.• For example, many district sales managers lamented the lack of enough qualified leads for account representatives to make their goals.• Romano Prodi, president of the commission, lamented the lack of radical reform.lamentlament2 noun [countable] APMa song, piece of music, or something that you say, that expresses a feeling of sadness A lone piper played a lament.lament for a lament for the deadExamples from the Corpus
lament• What a dismal, doleful, baleful lament of a speech we had from him.• The Farous' lament came to an end and the boy punched the tape out of its slot.• More than offer: I had barely mentioned what my book was about when her lament came pouring out.• A mariachi band approaches and launches into a lively lament on what it is to be alone and without love.• Brueggemann then contrasts the pit imagery with that of the wing, which also occurs in these psalms of lament.• On trips organised for food writers, public perfidy is a popular lament.• However, it is clear that the technologist who replies to the conservationist's lament is not an alternative technologist.Origin lament1 (1500-1600) French lamenter, from Latin lamentari, from lamentum “a lament” 