ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsW–Zwoe
ISEE/SSATmedium
woe
Meaning: great sorrow or distress
woe in a sentence
How woe is used in real sentences:
The old sailor's stories were filled with tales of shipwrecks and woe.
The letter described years of woe the family endured after the factory closed and jobs disappeared.
“When the first snow buried her markers, Lena felt woe for the nests and flowers that had failed, but she also yearned to return after winter.”
— from the passage The Meadow Notebook
Synonyms for woe
Other words for woe — sorrow, misery and anguish — carry the same meaning.
- sorrow
- misery
- anguish
Antonyms of woe
Words that mean the opposite of woe:
- joy
- delight
Where it comes from
From Old English wa, an exclamation of grief
Memory hook
WOE sounds like 'whoa' — a gut punch of sadness.