Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To feel or express strong disapproval of; condemn.
  • transitive verb To express sorrow or grief over.
  • transitive verb To regret; bemoan.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lament; bewail; mourn; feel or express deep and poignant grief for or in regard to.
  • To despair of; regard or give up as desperate.
  • To tell of sympathetically.
  • Synonyms To bemoan, grieve for, sorrow over.
  • To utter lamentations; lament; moan.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To lament.
  • transitive verb To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over.
  • transitive verb obsolete To complain of.
  • transitive verb obsolete To regard as hopeless; to give up.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To bewail; to weep bitterly over; to feel sorrow for.
  • verb transitive To condemn; to express strong disapproval of.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb express strong disapproval of
  • verb regret strongly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French déplorer, lament, regret, from Latin dēplōrāre : dē-, de- + plōrāre, to wail.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin deplorare ("to lament over, bewail"), from de- + plorare ("to wail, weep aloud"); origin uncertain.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Deplore is one of those sneaky, too-familiar words that hide how lovely they are until the hundredth-or-so time you've used them.

    August 10, 2008

  • UN Security Council word.

    August 10, 2008

  • Very well put, she.

    August 10, 2008

  • THIS is the words I was trying to think of on Friday! *headdesk* Why, why, WHY would it not come to mind?

    August 10, 2008

  • Because you wanted it to. That's how the Tip-of-My-Tongue Monster works. He tortures me frequently.

    August 11, 2008

  • Deplorable is also fun (and a U.N. Security Council word).

    August 11, 2008