All 7 Uses
lament
in
Steppenwolf
(Auto-generated)
- Now, whoever thinks that he knows the Steppenwolf and that he can imagine to himself his lamentably divided life is nevertheless in error.†
- In my lamentable state I was half-thankful for the cordiality with which he threw himself on me.†
*lamentable = regrettablestandard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
- The ideal Herr Haller had been lamentably dismantled!†
- That is why the part played by intellect even in our own German reality, in our history and politics and public opinion, has been so lamentable a one.†
lamentable = regrettablestandard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
- And when Pablo saw me so radiant, me whom he had always looked on as a very lamentable poor devil, his eyes beamed blissfully upon me and he was so inspired that he got up from his chair and blowing lustily in his horn climbed up on it.†
- The strong man led on a leash like a dog—lamentable sight—a large, beautiful but terribly emaciated wolf, whose eyes were cowed and furtive; and it was as disgusting as it was intriguing, as horrible as it was all the same secretly entertaining, to see this brutal tamer of animals put the noble and yet so ignominiously obedient beast of prey through a series of tricks and sensational turns.†
- It takes hold of some music played where you please, without distinction, stupid and coarse, lamentably distorted, to boot, and chucks it into space to land where it has no business to be; and yet after all this it cannot destroy the original spirit of the music; it can only demonstrate its own senseless mechanism, its inane meddling and marring.†
Definitions:
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(1)
(lament) to express grief or regret
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Although lament typically refers to a feeling or simple vocal expression, it can refer to a vocal expression as complex as a sad song or poem. It can even refer to sad, but non-vocal music -- as when Tennessee Williams references background music in A Streetcar Named Desire.