woebegone

adjective

woe·​be·​gone ˈwō-bi-ˌgȯn 

 also  -ˌgän

1

: strongly affected with woe : woeful

2

a

: exhibiting great woe, sorrow, or misery

a woebegone expression

b

: being in a sorry state

woebegone tattered clothes

woebegoneness noun

Did you know?

Breaking Down Woebegone

Whoa, whoa, whoa. We know that, at first glance, woebegone looks like a word that has its meaning backwards; after all, if begone means “go away,” shouldn’t woebegone mean “devoid of woe,” or “happy”? Not exactly. The word comes from the Middle English phrase wo begon. The wo in this phrase does indeed mean “woe,” but begon means “beset.” Someone who is woebegone, therefore, is beset with woe. Since the mid-1700s, the word has also been used to describe things that appear to express sadness, as in “the woebegone look on his face when he misplaced his favorite dictionary.”

Synonyms

• bad
• blue
• brokenhearted
• cast down
• crestfallen
• dejected
• depressed
• despondent
• disconsolate
• doleful
• down
• down in the mouth
• downcast
• downhearted
• droopy
• forlorn
• gloomy
• glum
• hangdog
• heartbroken
• heartsick
• heartsore
• heavyhearted
• inconsolable
• joyless
• low
• low-spirited
• melancholic
• melancholy
• miserable
• mournful
• sad
• saddened
• sorrowful
• sorry
• unhappy
• woeful
• wretched

Examples of woebegone in a Sentence

His face had a woebegone expression.

the most woebegone people that I had ever seen in my life

Recent Examples on the Web

This is what passes for epiphany for the solemn, solitary Jane, who searches for self-knowledge in a woebegone key. —Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024

Beginning his act while seated in the audience, with a cowboy hat obscuring his impossibly angular features, Gosling was in character as the woebegone Ken, a macho hunk doomed to play beta in the toy netherworld of Barbie. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024

The Lions have long been the NFL’s most woebegone team, its fans the league’s most beleaguered. —USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024

Jim Davis/Globe Staff While the penalty kill (5 for 5) did its job, allowing six shots, the power play (0 for 5) continued to be a woebegone situation. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English wo begon, from wo, noun + begon, past participle of begon to go about, beset, from Old English begān, from be- + gān to go — more at go entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

woebegone

adjective

woe·​be·​gone ˈwō-bi-ˌgȯn 

 also  -ˌgän

1

: showing great woe, sorrow, or misery

woebegone faces

2

: being in a sad state

a woebegone village