- present participle of wail.
wailing
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During Arbaeen, they show their grief, mourning with weeping and wailing in memory of Hussein.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
The lyrics mention muddy water and Natchez, Miss., and he adds wailing fills on the instrument officially known as a harmonica but which in this context is usually called a “harp.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Woken by huge bangs and wailing siren," he texted.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
No, Moore goes for the hard stuff: wailing saxophones, arrhythmic bass lines, drums that follow beats so out of time they might as well come from the deepest reaches of space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
He heard wailing then, high and keen and awful, and he knew the voice.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
It’s more like a Wagnerian music-drama, a somber story built around intimations of doom and orchestrated with a soundtrack of pounding drums and high-pitched wailings and ululations.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 21, 2021
During one Loueke showcase, his distorted voice occupied the same trebly range as his guitar wailings and scrapings.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2017
He testily advised him “to leave the predictions of Cassandra and the wailings of Jeremiah backstage.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2010
“The same wailings from the new arrivals, the same barking and shouts from the guards,” a character in Atwood’s new novel, The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, recalls of Gilead’s convulsive birth.
From Slate
At the same moment a long, loud, and piercing shriek was heard from the women's apartments, followed by lamentable wailings.
From Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad with Tales and Miscellanies Now First Collected Vol. III (of 3) by Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
