What's the difference between siren and wail?

Siren


Definition:

  • (n.) One of three sea nymphs, -- or, according to some writers, of two, -- said to frequent an island near the coast of Italy, and to sing with such sweetness that they lured mariners to destruction.
  • (n.) An enticing, dangerous woman.
  • (n.) Something which is insidious or deceptive.
  • (n.) A mermaid.
  • (n.) Any long, slender amphibian of the genus Siren or family Sirenidae, destitute of hind legs and pelvis, and having permanent external gills as well as lungs. They inhabit the swamps, lagoons, and ditches of the Southern United States. The more common species (Siren lacertina) is dull lead-gray in color, and becames two feet long.
  • (n.) An instrument for producing musical tones and for ascertaining the number of sound waves or vibrations per second which produce a note of a given pitch. The sounds are produced by a perforated rotating disk or disks. A form with two disks operated by steam or highly compressed air is used sounding an alarm to vessels in fog.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to a siren; bewitching, like a siren; fascinating; alluring; as, a siren song.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Dictated by underlying physicochemical constraints, deceived at times by the lulling tones of the siren entropy, and constantly vulnerable to the vagaries of other more pervasive forms of biological networking and information transfer encoded in the genes of virus and invading microorganisms, protein biorecognition in higher life forms, and particularly in mammals, represents the finely tuned molecular avenues for the genome to transfer its information to the next generation.
  • (2) Emergency medical services providers routinely respond to emergencies using lights and siren.
  • (3) 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.
  • (4) Off the south-west coast of Ibiza stands Es Vedrà, a 400m-high limestone rock which legend suggests was the island of the Sirens who lured sailors to their deaths in Homer's Odyssey.
  • (5) At 6pm it sounds like a war zone outside the office: you can hear nothing but sirens and the almost continuous drone of helicopters overhead.
  • (6) horns of cars, sirens of emergency vehicles and alarm signals of railroad crossings, and then displays them as vibration to the driver.
  • (7) The strange thing is, society is perhaps not quite in the same shape as most of the political elite - or for that matter, the siren voices who would have you believe that "everyone's middle class nowadays" - suggest.
  • (8) As dusk fell across the city a motorcade of flashing lights and sirens escorted him to the airport, where he thanked his hosts and organisers and the vice-president, Joe Biden, escorted him to the plane.
  • (9) Updated at 11.10pm GMT 10.29pm GMT @RanaGaza, on Twitter here , uploads audio of sirens in Gaza City and two strikes moments ago.
  • (10) IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) A few minutes ago, sirens in Tel Aviv sent residents running for shelter.
  • (11) As Operation Protective Edge launched, sirens sounded over large areas of Israel's south and air raid shelters were opened.
  • (12) They should ignore the siren voices about Ukip pacts, which would put the party back for years.
  • (13) Video by Chris Whitworth and Alex Purcell Victimhood is a real, brutal fact, and Ben Carson's Holocaust logic denies that | Gayatri Devi Read more Asked about abortion, another siren call to voters who dominate the Republican primary, Carson said he would appoint supreme court judges to overturn Roe v Wade , the 1973 decision that enshrines the right.
  • (14) They moved rapidly, but without lights or sirens; they were not heading into an emergency.
  • (15) In Trafalgar Square at 6.40pm, sirens could be heard from almost all directions.
  • (16) "I was here since 7am and just heard sirens and it was over so fast," said Daniel McKenzie from Darlington.
  • (17) Their faces stared up from the dusty stretch of tarmac outside New Cairo's police academy, a silent roll call of butchery laid out like a human carpet amid a cacophony of chants, sirens and camera clicks in the morning sun.
  • (18) The British Wind Energy Association said it was delighted that Miliband had "rightly ignored the siren calls to abandon wind as the driving force for reaching the [low carbon] targets".
  • (19) I’ve never seen so many police here, against the blare of sirens.
  • (20) Its rocket fire has caused fear and panic among Israelis in south and central Israel, with sirens sounding many times a day warning people to seek shelter.

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.

Words possibly related to "wail"