What's the difference between moan and wail?

Moan


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a low prolonged sound of grief or pain, whether articulate or not; to groan softly and continuously.
  • (v. i.) To emit a sound like moan; -- said of things inanimate; as, the wind moans.
  • (v. t.) To bewail audibly; to lament.
  • (v. t.) To afflict; to distress.
  • (v. i.) A low prolonged sound, articulate or not, indicative of pain or of grief; a low groan.
  • (v. i.) A low mournful or murmuring sound; -- of things.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The voters don’t do gratitude, self-pitying politicians are wont to moan.
  • (2) "A lot of people think, 'you're in work, what are you moaning about?'
  • (3) I was moaning about something, he was moaning about something.
  • (4) His department has formally complained to the BBC head of news, Helen Boaden, about the broadcaster's "carping and moaning".
  • (5) She thinks it's simple sexism, though she is loth to spell this out: "You can say that, but if I do, I'm just seen as moaning, playing the woman card again.
  • (6) That pitted him against the Democrat Jack Conway in November as the Republican elite moaned that such Tea Party rebellions would cost them seats.
  • (7) Jeremy Corbyn sweeps to victory increasing his mandate as Labour leader - Politics live Read more MPs who refuse to sit on the frontbench do not need to sit around moaning about Corbyn nor limit their ambition to avoiding deselection.
  • (8) This man's lawyers say he was then severely beaten: they allege that the initial blows, and their client's moans, can be heard faintly at the end of the video.
  • (9) Most moans 1 The Wright Stuff, Channel 5 (2,220 complaints) Matthew Wright uses Taggart catchphrase when talking about a suspicious death in the Western Isles.
  • (10) Ilike to go on Facebook and moan to friends about how awful Twitter is these days.
  • (11) When he is out socially he sometimes tells people that he works for the Post Office (it stops them soliciting invitations to send him scripts, and moaning about the kind of comedies they hate).
  • (12) He waits, outside, hearing "piteous, animal moans".
  • (13) No doubt if she worked on the checkout in Tesco you’d be telling her to resign over the company’s financial fraud investigation or the moans about how it treats its suppliers.
  • (14) Elias said: "There was shouting, moaning – even screaming – coming from the TDF [temporary detention facility] from time to time during the detention, according to some witnesses."
  • (15) G4S staff are relaxed about this, noting simply: “Prisoners moan.
  • (16) For me that is one of the most important battles for fairness.” During the presidential campaign he was caught moaning about “intellectual women who think they are downtrodden”, or who talk about their “ compañera ” cleaning lady, “when she is really the servant”.
  • (17) The video showed at length the interactions between Ms Dhu and police in the station , including moments when she can be heard crying and moaning in pain and asking for medical attention.
  • (18) Would anybody have any sympathy for the casino manager if he then started moaning that he’d lost £25,000?
  • (19) Stop your moaning about equal-rights this, maternity that, childcare the other.
  • (20) This isn't a sub-Rhodesian moan about Britain going to the dogs.

Wail


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To choose; to select.
  • (v. t.) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over; as, to wail one's death.
  • (v. i.) To express sorrow audibly; to make mournful outcry; to weep.
  • (n.) Loud weeping; violent lamentation; wailing.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) You couldn't get much more bohemian than the music playing in this room of tiny round tables, first French crooner Serge Gainsbourg and then cabaret freak Scott Walker wailing of their obelisk-size pain.
  • (2) Every now and then some rich Oga or Madam comes along in their bulletproof cars and wailing sirens, and distorts the delicate equilibrium of this body of traffic.
  • (3) In groups 1 and 2, clusters of cylindrical tubules, typical of the male gland, decreased in number and disappeared almost completely 2 wailed in these two groups throughout the remaining period of experiment.
  • (4) "Barcelona's habit of playing midfielders in defence will do them more harm than good," he wails.
  • (5) "Gnnmph, I can't 'ave it 'ere, I 'aven't 'ad my enema," wails a labouring housewife, straining fruitlessly on a communal tenement bog as horrified neighbours look on in their rollers.
  • (6) There were moments when music seemed to struggle to be heard over the tocking of iPod clickwheels and the wailing of record company executives.
  • (7) The army cleared itself of responsibility for the killing of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach three weeks ago during an artillery barrage after many Israelis were shaken by television pictures of a traumatised child wailing over the body of her father.
  • (8) While Arsenal fans have spent the last nine years gnashing and wailing, Hull supporters have cheered the incredible resurrection of their club, as David Conn explains here .
  • (9) Some family members, after years of begging for mercy and receiving none, broke down and wailed.
  • (10) The big story Once upon a time the Oscar ceremony was a comforting drone punctuated only by the odd song-and-dance routine and the banshee wailing of overwhelmed best actress award winners.
  • (11) Elsewhere on the carpet Quentin Tarantino is having a bop with Uma Thurman (again), Xavier Dolan is wearing an outrageous tux (again) and the boring normal people at the barriers are wailing for stars' attention (again).
  • (12) Later that night, Lola wailed in the street as the police prised her baby from her arms and led her into custody.
  • (13) Family members who had gathered at a hotel in Beijing wailed as they heard the news.
  • (14) Naderi offered his prayers to Dhu’s family at the end of his evidence, saying: “I wish I was able to pick up any abnormal signs that may have made a difference.” Carol Roe ran crying from the courtroom, her wail flowing back through the door to where Naderi was seated in the witness box.
  • (15) Sorrowful wails and sobs resounded as thousands of Rwandans packed the country's main sports stadium to mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of a devastating 100-day genocide.
  • (16) Sandy breaking out of the compound BB3 Sandy's insistence on his quirkiness got rather wearing, so it was just as well he made a bid for escape, with his new best friend Alex wailing, "Be careful, Sandy, be careful!"
  • (17) Starbucks admitted that while it can (quite incredibly) claim that its 700 UK stores are not profitable, through wails of what seemed like crocodile tears, its 30 coffee traders in Switzerland make an enormous 20% profit margin despite never seeing a coffee bean; a fact that the committee could not have helped noting might be related to the 12% tax it pays in that state.
  • (18) Their players are distraught and making a mess of everything, while the TV producer here is having an absolute ball picking out wailing Brazilians in the crowd.
  • (19) Another shows a scene of villagers wailing with grief: “Villagers grieve as their friend is put into the ambulance,” the voiceover says.
  • (20) Among those who finally decided that Kobani was on the brink was Mukdad Bozan, travelling with his wife, a wailing baby and three bedraggled older children.

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