Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Affected with or marked by deep sorrow, grief, or wretchedness. See Synonyms at sad.
- adj. Of an inferior or deplorable condition: a rundown, woebegone old shack.
Wiktionary
- adj. In a deplorable state.
- adj. Filled with or deeply affected by woe.
Etymologies
- Old English, “woe has beset me”, from wo ("woe") + begon ("to beset, to surround") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English wo begon, beset with woe : wo, woe; see woe + begon, past participle of begon, to beset (from Old English begān : be-, be- + gān, to go; see go1). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Chafed at having been described as woebegone, Diana lifted her chin.”
“I can still call his woebegone appearance to mind.”
“Tallick's mien was .. "woebegone" is the only word for it.”
“Here was a motley crowd of woebegone wretches who had spent the night in the rain.”
“And perhaps I won't have to sit through another woebegone panel on the state of science fiction.”
[GUEST POST] Sarah A. Hoyt on The Death of Science Fiction: It Ain't Over Till The Fat Droid Sings
“Now at the end, he is stranded on the Great White Way in the woebegone rethought revival of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: DVD: Woody Allen Back On Top, Ready For Oscar Love
“But he can take his creativity, and some team's defense — maybe the St. Louis Rams 'unit or the Detroit Lions' woebegone collection — will be become instantly better.”
NFL Replay: Staying or going, Dungy's historic place is secure
“Sunday's Denver at Miami showdown was the kind of woebegone NFL contest Roger Goodell should have paid you $29.95 to watch.”
“The finest tennis player these islands have produced since Fred Perry will not see himself as a woebegone nitwit – and he is far from that – but his otherworldliness is also his strength: opponents are often as bemused by him on court as those employed to chronicle his pronouncements are off it.”
The Guardian: Andy Murray eager to overcome odds and baguettes against Rafa Nadal
“Mr. Gray should apply his obvious talents to improving the woebegone school system without reference to the political force of any group offering him advice.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘woebegone’.
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Not in the Periodic Table
Words that sound like they might be the names of elements of the periodic table, but that aren't. Many of the words listed here were actually proposed as names for substances their creators thought...
tentorium, columbarium, nasturtium, deuterium, caladium, valerian, concordium, synangium, chorium, geranium, hymenium, pyrenium and 310 more...
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emo words
feelings...blah, blah, blah, feelings...
forsaken, anguish, angst, sorrowful, dejected, depressed, disconsolate, heartbroken, genial, chipper, inadequate, helpless and 58 more...
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Personality
these words are more than mere descriptions of a person's behavior.
They entail in themselves the power to accurately define an individual.martinet, machiavellian, convivial, gregarious, insouciant, nonchalant, haggler, woebegone, thievish, haranguer, yenta, refractory and 1 more...
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Down in the dumps, feeling blue? Here, then, is a list for you...
feeling blue, down in the dumps, blue devils, mulligrubs, mubblefubbles, melancholy, lugubrious, gloomy gus, eeyore, doleful, woeful, woebegone and 86 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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the most beautiful
velvet, wainwright, susurrous, nutmeg, pegasus, tintinnabular, gossamer, lyricism, rococo, townlet, prince, nymph and 139 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
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vocabulary
verisimilitude, pendulate, moxie, whimper, nary, stevedore, hubris, prodigious, super-injunction, injunction, lashings, fennel and 202 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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The Innocents Abroad
Words rounded up while reading The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.
rakish, excursionist, bowelless, pilgrimizing, melodeon, woebegone, abaft, sextant, veriest, behindhand, stanchion, avast and 188 more...
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GRE
acrimony, verisimilitude, tenebrious, tenebrous, dishabille, unfettered, deplorable, woebegone, credulity, naïveté, mitigate, meliorate and 475 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for woebegone.
bilby May work on some sharks. See wobbegong. Sep 27, 2008
jennarenn ha! Sep 27, 2008
whichbe An aerosol spray for problems. Sep 27, 2008