What's the difference between misery and woe?

Misery


Definition:

  • (n.) Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
  • (n.) Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.
  • (n.) Covetousness; niggardliness; avarice.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Northern Ireland will not be dragged back by terrorists who have nothing but misery to offer."
  • (2) The Coalition promises to add more misery to their lives.
  • (3) I thought she had been put out of her misery by marriage but now she is a widow.
  • (4) This is not some sophisticated, Westminstery battle, but a life-and-death, misery-or-decency choice about the very basics of life for hundreds of thousands of older British people.
  • (5) "While the country is sunk in misery, families are ruined and children are growing up in poverty, this guy turns up and we pay €91m for him.
  • (6) It is only going to cause more disruption and misery for passengers.
  • (7) An arms embargo should be imposed on Israel, the former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell has said , as he warned that the level of misery and carnage in Gaza was likely to poison the remaining goodwill in the region for generations.
  • (8) In Kew Gardens, west London, 18mm of rain fell in just an hour on Saturday afternoon with other deluges causing travel misery.
  • (9) So, in The Devil Wears Prada , the ferocious magazine chief played by Meryl Streep is beset by secret misery: unfaithful husband, tricky kids, wig issues.
  • (10) He skirted round the issue of historic responsibility for the misery but referred to the sheer scale of the sacrifice, pointing out that, among more than 14,000 parishes in the whole of England and Wales, only about 50 so-called "thankful parishes" saw all their soldiers return.
  • (11) Spanish football fans’ habit of waving white hankies tends to be derisive, signifying that they wish a hapless manager to be put out of their club’s misery.
  • (12) Above all, MPs should vote to stop needless misery for families afflicted by this rare but terrible disorder.
  • (13) At the same time, by achieving a state of misery through following her mother's orders, she exposed her as ridiculous, and thus covertly discharged considerable aggression.
  • (14) Labour are finally crafting a clearer line on Brexit: this morning, the shadow chancellor warned that “losing access to the single market would be devastating for jobs, livelihoods and our public services”, that Britain didn’t vote for “economic misery and the loss of jobs”, and that the government was “abandoning Britain’s clear national interests by putting narrow party political concerns first.” These are good lines – and clarify that Labour’s priority is single-market access – but they will only cut through if repeated in similar language until people can hardly bear to hear them anymore.
  • (15) Behind the chancellor, Tories kept up a wall of noise, laughing and jeering at the misery guts on the benches opposite.
  • (16) Oxygen supply by this route, however, may enable the inner ear tissue alive even in misery perfusion and recover the high tone potential as a therapy of otitis media with effusion.
  • (17) It wasn’t too long ago that I was sitting inside a tent with newfound friends, fasting on the National Mall and feeling a profound hunger – literally, yes, but also a hunger within, to see an end to the misery endured by those who come to our country to escape poverty and violence in search of a bright future for their families.
  • (18) Forty percent of An-ICH were treated conservatively and the outcome was very misery (no useful life and 94% was poor or dead).
  • (19) Most human misery can be blamed on failed relationships and physical and mental illness rather than money problems and poverty, according to a landmark study by a team of researchers at the London School of Economics (LSE).
  • (20) While a US presidential visit would normally be expected to command the lion's share of attention in South Korea, the country remains preoccupied with the misery wrought by the sinking of the passenger ferry.

Woe


Definition:

  • (n.) A curse; a malediction.
  • (a.) Woeful; sorrowful.
  • (n.) Grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The disappointing weather at Easter left beaches deserted but some Britons, who were determined to enjoy the outdoors this time round, have already had their plans thwarted by the weather, taking to websites such as ukcampsite.co.uk to swap tales of woe, such as farmers calling to cancel bookings because sites were waterlogged.
  • (2) If I’m the bad guy because I’m not the guy they want me to be, then so be it.” Over the last year he resolved his promotional woes in court and has since signed with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports – along with Miguel Cotto the nascent sports agency’s highest-profile signing in boxing.
  • (3) While Chinese media have not spelt out Zhou's woes explicitly, the hints have grown more blatant by the month, with some identifying him via his family relationships.
  • (4) Asked if Aamer would talk publicly about his experiences, Crider said: “I think he will make up his own mind about it, and really, woe betide the person who tries to silence Shaker Aamer.” She added that it would be up to him “how much of his story and the terrible things he witnessed that he wants to tell”.
  • (5) Plummeting oil prices only added to economic woes in a country with the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves.
  • (6) To add to their woes, the cost of their dollar-denominated debt is rising; the US Federal Reserve said December’s rate hike is just the start of a “gradual” tightening cycle .
  • (7) It’s a seismic moment for the industry and particularly the big European manufacturers who have done a lot of work on diesel: technologically, they have they made the wrong bet.” Some analysts believe fears of brand damage in Europe are overstated but Bailey says: “In the US it’s very different: VW have killed their diesel market and it has left them in a very difficult position.” For British manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, the timing of VW’s woes was ominous, as it unveiled two new diesels in America.
  • (8) The aluminium magnate's British-related woes do not stop there: a former business partner, Michael Cherney, is suing him for $4bn in the high court.
  • (9) We have to acknowledge that it's extremely hard to build a regular city from scratch.” Furthermore, some experts say that certified green buildings and pedestrian-friendly roads are a worthless patch for China’s environmental woes, not a solution.
  • (10) The woes of British industry were ­echoed right across Europe in November, as firms slashed production amid plunging demand from consumers in all the world's major markets.
  • (11) Clinton said her woes over her email server had been a “drip, drip, drip” that was impacting her.
  • (12) In an otherwise assured performance on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show , Douglas Alexander – when urged to address Ed Miliband’s woes – resorted to the words of Harold Wilson.
  • (13) Buhari has presented himself as a born-again democrat who possesses the experience to steer the country through instability, currency woes and rampant corruption.
  • (14) Creative diplomacy is still much required in the Middle East, where it is hard to see how a dominantly military strategy against Islamic State can in itself, and even over time, bring a solution to the region’s woes.
  • (15) The unrest over rising petrol prices is only further adding to Nigeria's security woes: Jonathan already declared a state of emergency over the weekend in parts of the country hit by a growing Islamic insurgency that is fuelled in part by widespread poverty.
  • (16) But that may be the least of Ukip’s woes as it sups the bitter draught of victory.
  • (17) 7.31pm BST Nick Kyrgios's legs have gone to jelly and his heart is full of woe.
  • (18) It is not the cause of Spain's economic woes, but think of this: if everybody paid their dues, Spain's deficit would be zero.
  • (19) The result in some richer countries has been a political movement that blames globalisation for all woes and seeks somehow to wall off the economy from global trends rather than engage cooperatively with foreign nations.
  • (20) Probably... April 23, 2013 11.42am BST Analysts see little relief for Europe The continuing fall in Eurozone output this month ( see 9.19am ) led by Germany's shrinking private sector seconomy, shows that there's no improvement in Europe's woes.

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