bewail means to wail over; to feel or express deep sorrow for. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 77 out of 100.
Why this word is great
BEWAIL — [Verb] To express deep sorrow for, especially with loud lamentation. From Middle English bewailen, equivalent to the intensive prefix be- + wail (from Old Norse væla, meaning 'to lament'). Unlike "bemoan" (which implies a quieter, more intellectualized regret) or "deplore" (which centers on stern condemnation), to bewail is to let grief become a physical event, an audible weather. It is the raw, rhythmic keening at a graveside that chills the air, the cracked voice of an actor on a bare stage cursing the heavens, or the wind's hollow shriek through a broken window frame—a sound that makes sorrow an undeniable public fact, and in doing so, briefly holds the encroaching silence at bay.
verb
- To wail over; to feel or express deep sorrow for.“[…] Though in this city he
Hath widow’d and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury,
Yet he shall have a noble memory.”