wailing
part of speech
noun (wailing, uncountable); verb, -ing form of wail (wail, wails, wailed, wailing); adjective (wailing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A long, loud, high cry of pain, sadness or anger. tree →
2) A long, high sound like a cry, such as a siren or the wind. tree →
3) (informal) Complaining loudly and at length. tree →
4) The Wailing Wall is a name for the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a holy place where Jewish people pray. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, wailing tells the reader that someone is very upset: a baby wailing in the night, mourners wailing at a funeral. It can also describe sounds: a wailing siren or the wind wailing in the chimney. The Western Wall in Jerusalem is a very holy place for Jewish people; "Wailing Wall" is an older name, and many prefer "Western Wall". Phrases: "wailing and crying", "a wailing siren", "the Wailing Wall".
examples
- The baby was wailing in the middle of the night. tree →
- We heard the wailing of a fire engine's siren. tree →
- The wind was wailing around the old house. tree →
- There was wailing and crying when the dog ran away. tree →
- Stop wailing about your homework and just start it! tree →
- People pray at the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall. tree →
- The ghost in the story made a terrible wailing sound. tree →
- In one of the houses he heard cries and wailing. tree →
note
"Wail" is a regular verb (wailed, wailing). Homophone trap: "wailing" sounds like "whaling" (hunting whales) and "Wales" sounds like "wails"; check the spelling by meaning. Wailing is louder and longer than crying or sobbing.
In the corpora
- For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion: 'How are we undone!
- Hark! the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leaders of the flock!
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wailing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.