bemourn means to weep or mourn over. It carries an Arena rating of 1609, earned across 57 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bemourn ranks #4,747 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #5,501 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #5,658 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,338 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
Why “bemourn” is a great word
BEMOURN — [Verb] To weep or mourn over, with an implication of deep, encompassing grief. From Middle English *bemornen*, from Old English *bemurnan* ("to mourn, bewail, deplore"), equivalent to the intensive prefix *be-* ("over, about") + the verb *mourn*. Unlike "bemoan," which often implies a vocal expression of regret, or "bewail," which suggests demonstrative, passionate lamentation, to bemourn is the quiet, protracted labor of sorrow. It is the slow weathering of a name carved in granite, the habitual touch of a hand to an empty space on the pillow, and the ache in the eyes from watching a hearth-fire burn down to grey ash without rekindling—a sorrow that has moved beyond sound and become the soul’s private weather.
Etymology
From Middle English bemornen, from Old English bemurnan (“to mourn, bewail, deplore, be sorry for, care for, take heed for”), equivalent to be- (“over, about”) + mourn. Cognate with Old Saxon bimornian (“to bemourn”).
verb
- To weep or mourn over.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.