lamentable

English

Etymology

From Middle English lamentable, from Middle French lamentable, from Latin lāmentābilis (“full of sorrow, mournful; deplorable”), from lāmentor (“lament”), from lāmenta (“wailing, weeping”). By surface analysis, lament +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləˈmɛn.tə.bəl/, /ˈlæm.ən.tə.bəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

lamentable (comparative more lamentable, superlative most lamentable)

1. Causing sorrow, distress or regret; deplorable, pitiful or distressing.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv:

     In what a lamentable caſe were I,
     If Nature had not giuen me wiſedomes lore?

   • 1961 February, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 86:

     Moreover, in view of the lamentable present indecision of the Government in regard to electrification, the large-scale building of diesel power may prove to have been a farseeing move after all.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:lamentable

Derived terms

• lamentability
• lamentableness
• lamentably
• unlamentable

Related terms

• lament

Translations

deplorable

• Arabic: مُؤْسِف (ar) (muʔsif)
• Azerbaijani: acınacaqlı
• Bulgarian: печален (bg) (pečalen)
• Catalan: lamentable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可悲 (zh) (kěbēi)

• Finnish: valitettava (fi)
• French: lamentable (fr), déplorable (fr)
• German: beklagenswert (de)
• Italian: lamentabile
• Japanese: 嘆かわしい (ja) (なげかわしい, nagekawashii)
• Latin: flēbilis
• Norman: lamentabl'ye m or f
• Portuguese: lamentável (pt)
• Russian: плаче́вный (ru) (plačévnyj), приско́рбный (ru) (priskórbnyj)
• Spanish: lamentable (es)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [lə.mənˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [la.menˈta.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

lamentable m or f (masculine and feminine plural lamentables)

1. lamentable, regrettable

Derived terms

• lamentablement

Related terms

• lamentar

Further reading

• “lamentable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lāmentābilis (“full of sorrow, mournful; deplorable”), from lāmentor (“lament”), from lāmenta (“wailing, weeping”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la.mɑ̃.tabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: lamentables
• Rhymes: -abl

Adjective

lamentable (plural lamentables)

1. lamentable; awful; deplorable

   Synonyms: déplorable, pitoyable, minable

Derived terms

• lamentablement

Related terms

• lamenter

Further reading

• “lamentable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin lāmentābilis (“full of sorrow, mournful; deplorable”), from lāmentor (“lament”), from lāmenta (“wailing, weeping”). Cognate with English lamentable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lamenˈtable/ [la.mẽn̪ˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: la‧men‧ta‧ble

Adjective

lamentable m or f (masculine and feminine plural lamentables)

1. lamentable, regrettable
   • 2001, Julio Montes Ponce de León, Medio ambiente y desarrollo sostenido, Univ Pontifica Comillas →ISBN, page 64

     Es lamentable el trato que sufren con frecuencia los árboles recién plantados en las proximidades de los colegios.

     The treatment that newly planted trees in the vicinity of schools often suffer is lamentable.

Derived terms

• lamentablemente

Related terms

• (see for more terms) lamentar

Further reading

• “lamentable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025