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wailful

[weyl-fuhl]

adjective

mournful; plaintive.

Origin:
1535–45; wail + -ful

Related forms

wail·ful·ly, adverb

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Wailful is always a great word to know.

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a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

wail (weɪl)

—vb
1.	(intr) to utter a prolonged high-pitched cry, as of grief or misery
2.	(intr) to make a sound resembling such a cry: the wind wailed in the trees
3.	(tr) to lament, esp with mournful sounds

—n
4.	a prolonged high-pitched mournful cry or sound

[C14: of Scandinavian origin; related to Old Norse vǣla to wail, Old English wāwoe]

'wailer

—n

'wailful

—*adj*

'wailfully

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Matching Quote

"Disease can never be conquered, can never be quelled by emotion's wailful screaming or faith's cymballic prayer. It can only be conquered by the energy of humanity and the cunning in the mind of man. In the patience of a Curie, in the enlightenment of a Faraday, a Rutherford, a Pasteur, a Nightingale, and all other apostles of light and cleanliness, rather than of a woebegone godliness, we shall find final deliverance from plague, pestilence, and famine."

-Sean O'Casey

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