Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Language: Old English
Origin: wepan

weep

 verb
     
NEW! See related topics: ILLNESS AND DISABILITY
weep past tense and past participle wept
1 [intransitive and transitive] formal or literary to cry, especially because you feel very sad:
James broke down and wept.
weep for
She wept for the loss of her mother.
He wept bitterly (=cried a lot) when it was time for us to leave.
2

I could have wept

spoken used to say that you felt very disappointed about something:
I could have wept thinking what I'd missed.
3 [intransitive]MI if a wound weeps, liquid comes out of it
—weep noun [singular]
WORD FOCUS: cry WORD FOCUS: cry
be in tears to be crying
burst into tears to suddenly start crying
break down (in tears) to suddenly cry a lot, after trying not to cry
sob to cry noisily, with sudden noisy breaths
weep especially written to cry a lot for a long time
bawl if a baby bawls, it cries very loudly
have tears in your eyes to be about to cry
your eyes water you start to cry, especially because you have been cutting up onions or there is a lot of smoke

➔ See also cry
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

ADVERTISING AND MARKETINGANIMALSBANKING
BIOLOGYBUSINESS BASICSCOMPUTERS
CLOTHESDAILY LIFEEDUCATION
FINANCEFOODGRAMMAR
HAIR AND BEAUTYHUMANLAW
MUSICNATURESPORT
STOCKS AND SHARESTECHNOLOGYTRADE