What's the difference between sob and wail?

Sob


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To soak.
  • (v. i.) To sigh with a sudden heaving of the breast, or with a kind of convulsive motion; to sigh with tears, and with a convulsive drawing in of the breath.
  • (n.) The act of sobbing; a convulsive sigh, or inspiration of the breath, as in sorrow.
  • (n.) Any sorrowful cry or sound.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "After I saw you there, I just went out and sobbed.
  • (2) The results suggest that (i) the SOS response of E. coli and the SOB response of B. subtilis are strikingly similar from both a phenotypic and a regulatory standpoint and that RecA and LexA protein analogs exist in B. subtilis, (ii) the Recbs protein is capable of regulating its own production, and (iii) SOS-inducing (RecA-activating) signals are generated in B. subtilis following either DNA damage or the development of physiological competence.
  • (3) Effects of amygdaloid lesions on the switch-off behavior (SOB) and behavioral changes induced by a delayed reinforcement (DR) for SOB were investigated in 12 cats.
  • (4) Acts of kindness move Langham to tears, and before long another memory has him sobbing.
  • (5) He went from minstrel show to blackface, from vaudeville to Broadway before he hit a fabulous prosperity as the most sentimental of all sentimental singers, a poor Russian cantor's son daubed with burnt cork and down on one knee sobbing for the "mammy" he had never known in a south that nobody ever knew.
  • (6) No one photographs the child with learning difficulty, sobbing as the teaching assistant they worked with for the past three years is booted out.
  • (7) He is very kind, honest, funny,” she said on Monday, sobbing as she remembered her only child, who had been flying home from Malaysia, where he was studying.
  • (8) In a televised meeting that has gone viral, the German chancellor rubs the shoulder of a sobbing teenager after telling her she was one of “thousands and thousands” of refugees that her country was unable to help.
  • (9) Since then, the cursing and sobbing have been plentiful.
  • (10) "This depressing morning has now got me questioning my pitiful existence," sobs James Dodge.
  • (11) She is generally a happy person, but in the last few weeks she has been showing signs of deep anxiety, phoning me sobbing with fear.
  • (12) The 56-year-old held a tissue to her face and sobbed during a five-minute hearing at City of Westminster magistrates court in central London.
  • (13) Liam Stacey , 21, of Pontypridd, south Wales, sobbed as he was taken away after the failed appeal hearing at Swansea crown court.
  • (14) The paper's "special investigation", headlined "No ID, no checks … and vouchers for sob stories: the truth behind those shock food bank claims", suggested that claims about the scale of Britain's welfare problems had been exaggerated.
  • (15) I sobbed for the last 30 pages but not, perhaps, for the reason you'd expect.
  • (16) Naturally I confronted them about it, halting their child's progress with a foot on the front bumper, loudly berating their crass behaviour while impressed pedestrians looked on, cheering and punching the air and chanting my name until Audi boy's parents fell to the ground, clutching pitifully at my trouser-legs and sobbing for forgiveness.
  • (17) 4.59pm BST "My fiancee have decided to get married in whichever country wins the World Cup so this game really has me torn," sobs Nate Philipps.
  • (18) She was followed by several women who must have been relatives or neighbours living nearby; the cries and sobs were so loud they could be heard clearly over the shooting and chanting from the street.
  • (19) "It's just so depressing this whole situation," sobs Angus Chisholm.
  • (20) One hand held the corner of the tomb and he sobbed uncontrollably into the other.

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 "sob"

Words possibly related to "wail"