1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
the woeful expressions of the players after the humiliating loss
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sad
feeling unhappiness
never saw a more woeful-looking bunch than those campers sitting there in the drenching rain
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in tragic
of a kind to cause great distress
the restaurant patron made the woeful discovery that he had left his wallet at home
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of woeful
Put it this way: The Predator plays like the sort of woeful franchise restart that the characters in a Shane Black script would make fun of.
5.
—
Will Leitch, Vulture, 9 June 2025
Interim Kings coach Doug Christie was pleased with the way his team responded against the Hornets after suffering a dispiriting loss to the woeful Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
—Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 5 Apr. 2025
And for as woeful as Walker’s offense was over the last month, his .333/.353/.545 line over his past 11 games (which includes a homer and 10 RBI) suggests a breakthrough is near.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Sure there are occasional bad losses like a late-inning collapse in the rain on May 5 against the San Diego Padres or last Friday’s 3-2 loss to the woeful Colorado Rockies, but for the most part the good outweighs the bad.
—Larry Fleisher, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
Will Leitch, Vulture, 9 June 2025
Interim Kings coach Doug Christie was pleased with the way his team responded against the Hornets after suffering a dispiriting loss to the woeful Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
—Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 5 Apr. 2025
And for as woeful as Walker’s offense was over the last month, his .333/.353/.545 line over his past 11 games (which includes a homer and 10 RBI) suggests a breakthrough is near.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Sure there are occasional bad losses like a late-inning collapse in the rain on May 5 against the San Diego Padres or last Friday’s 3-2 loss to the woeful Colorado Rockies, but for the most part the good outweighs the bad.
—Larry Fleisher, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for woeful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for woeful
Adjective
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Once abundant on the island, this ground-foraging dove – with an earthy red-brown plumage and a quiet, mournful call – disappeared from the wild by 1972.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
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Several of her patients left mournful messages on the Yelp page of her Arcadia practice.—
Clara Harter
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
4 July 2025
Adjective
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That's the sad reality facing many dogs in the wider shelter system.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 July 2025
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Sinner plowed through an ailing Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, in a match that could serve as a sad, unfortunate coda to one of the most remarkable grass careers in tennis history.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
John Burgess was among the victims of the tragic flooding in Texas Hill Country on the Fourth of July after the Guadalupe River rose around 26 feet in approximately 45 minutes, local media outlet KWTX reported.—
Becca Longmire,
People.com,
8 July 2025
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What remains, then, is a growing list of tragic lessons.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Adjective
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And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.—
David Mamet,
National Review,
11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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This gives the creditor an additional target to pursue and make very unhappy which can indirectly put pressure on the debtor to pay the judgment.—
Jay Adkisson,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
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Circulation increased and the publication won two Pulitzer Prizes, but the owner, conservative Harry Guggenheim, was unhappy with the paper’s shift to the left, and he and Moyers were divided over the Vietnam War and the 1968 presidential election.—
Carmel Dagan,
Variety,
26 June 2025
Adjective
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Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cell phones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.—
Anne Marie D. Lee,
CBS News,
14 July 2025
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Fortunately for him, that gaffe will be a little easier to live down than Teal and Weinberg’s unfortunate comments.—
Krista Kafer,
Denver Post,
12 July 2025
Adjective
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Raymond Cheadle, Honesty’s great-uncle, told WUSA the family, including the girl’s dad, is heartbroken.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
11 July 2025
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Pepe has the power to make two heartbroken Islanders immediately forget about their old connections.—
Alejandra Gularte,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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For now, this is DeVries on the job: intent but measured, teeth ready to clamp down on his tongue, establishing standards while also very much trying to make sure his team isn’t miserable from the beginning.—
Brian Hamilton,
New York Times,
11 July 2025
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His Panthers opened the season with two miserable losses, complete with booing from fans in the home opener, and the 23-year-old soon became the first quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the Super Bowl era to be benched for non-injury reasons.—
Eric Jackson,
Sportico.com,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Woeful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/woeful. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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