Standard Lemma guide

woebegone

adj · noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwəʊbɪɡɒn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: wōʹbĭ-gôn
  • General-American: /ˈwoʊbiˌɡɔn/
  • General-American: /-bə-/
  • cot-caught-merger: -gän
  • cot-caught-merger: /-ɡɑn/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: W OW1 B IH0 G AO2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe (“great distress or sadness”); (loosely) forlorn, sad, unhappy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lamentable, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen, cut up, damp, dejected, depressed, despondent, disgruntled, disconsolate, disheartened, dismal, doleful, dolesome, down, down in the dumps, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, downsome, dull, elegiac, elegious, forlorn, gloomy, glum, grief-stricken, grieving, heavy-hearted, heartsore, heartsick, inconsolable, infelicitous, jawfallen, joyless, lachrymose, lamentful, low, low-spirited, lugubrious, lumpish, melancholic, melancholy, miserable, moody, mopey, morose, mournful, passionate, plaintive, Plutonian, Plutonic, querulous, ruthful, sad, saddened, saturnine, shattered, solemn, sombre, sorrowful, sorrow-ridden, sorrowsome, spiritless, sullen, threnetic, threnetical, triste, tristful, uncheerful, uncheery, unconsolable, unhappy, unlively, wistful, woe, woebegone, woeful, wretched

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: derelict, dilapidated, godforsaken, ramshackle, rundown, tumbledown

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of a thing: in a deplorable state.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A person who is deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Near-synonym: (chiefly US, informal) sad sack

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sad sack

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

affected by or full of grief or woe- George du Maurier

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his sorrow...made him look...haggard and...woebegone

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: woeful

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

worn and broken down by hard use

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a creaky shack
  • a decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction tape
  • a flea-bitten sofa
  • a run-down neighborhood
  • a woebegone old shack

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: creaky, decrepit, derelict, flea-bitten, run-down

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English wo-bigon, wo-begon (“(adjective) deeply affected by woe, distressed, sorrowful, wretched; affected by physical impairment or pain; tired, weary; abominable, cursed; (noun) unfortunate person, wretch”), from wo (“distress, misery, woe; physical pain or suffering; etc.”) + bigon (the past participle form of bigon (“of a state: to come upon or overtake (someone), beset, overwhelm, bego; of a person: to be overwhelmed by grief, etc.”)): * wo is derived from Old English wā (“woe”), from Proto-West Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection), from Proto-Germanic *wai (“woe!”, interjection), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wáy (“ah!, oh!; alas!, woe!”, interjection). * bigon is derived from Old English begān (“to go over, traverse; to beset, surround; to occupy; to overrun; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *bigān, from *bi- (from Proto-Germanic *bi- (prefix meaning ‘at; by’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1épi (“at; near; on”)) + *gān (“to go”) (from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go; to walk”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵheh1- (“to go; to reach; to abandon, leave”)). By surface analysis, woe + begone (the past participle form of bego (“(obsolete) to affect”)). Noun sense 1 (“person who is deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe”) became obsolete after the 14th or 15th century, and was only revived in the 19th century.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: печален (pečalen) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Bulgarian: скръбен (skrǎben) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Czech: skleslý — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Czech: sklíčený — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Czech: zkroušený — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Finnish: alakuloinen — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Finnish: apea — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Finnish: murheissaan — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • French: abattu — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • German: jammernd — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • German: wehklagend — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Greek: θλιμμένος (thlimménos) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Macedonian: скр́бен (skŕben) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Macedonian: та́жен (tážen) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Macedonian: у́вилен (úvilen) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Macedonian: жа́лен (žálen) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Russian: го́рестный (górestnyj) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Russian: удручённый (udručónnyj) — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: acılı — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: dertli — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: elemli — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: gamlı — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: hüzünlü — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Turkish: kederli — of a person: deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe
  • Finnish: apea — of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance
  • Finnish: synkeä — of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance
  • Greek: θλιμμένος (thlimménos) — of a person or thing: having a distressed, miserable, or sad appearance
  • Bulgarian: нещастен (neštasten) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Bulgarian: злочест (zločest) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Finnish: epäkunnossa — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Finnish: retuperällä — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • French: désolé — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • German: erbärmlich — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • German: heruntergekommen — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • German: jammervoll — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • German: kläglich — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Greek: θλιμμένος (thlimménos) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Macedonian: не́среќен (nésreḱen) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Russian: плаче́вный (plačévnyj) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Russian: приско́рбный (priskórbnyj) — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Swedish: bedrövad — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Turkish: acınası — of a thing: in a deplorable state
  • Finnish: murehtija — person deeply affected or overwhelmed by suffering or trouble, and so filled with woe