woenoun
uk/wəʊ/us/woʊ/woes [ plural ] formal
big problems or troubles:
The country has been beset by economic woes for the past decade.
Unusually poor harvests have added to the country's woes.
[ U ] literary extreme sadness:
Her face was lined and full of woe.
He told me a real tale of woe about how he had lost both his job and his house in the same week.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Difficult situations and unpleasant experiences
- a (heavy) cross to bear idiom
- a cloud on the horizon idiom
- a fate worse than death idiom
- a hard/tough row to hoe idiom
- a narrow squeak idiom
- barrel
- bind
- crunch
- curse
- eventuality
- fate
- feeding frenzy
- going
- have a bumpy ride idiom
- rum
- schtuck
- shtook
- stalemate
- standoff
- vortex
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Sadness and regret
Idiom(s)
woe betide sb
woe is me