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Glite Dictionary
Lamentations

Lamentations

8.6
A book of the Old Testament about deep sorrow for Jerusalem after it was destroyed
  • proper noun
  • /ˌlæmənˈteɪʃənz/
  • Literature
translation icon : Lamentaciones
  • The book of Lamentations mourns the fall of Jerusalem and its devastation.

Examples

  • There's no real logical development of ideas in Lamentations, primarily because it's structured by an artificial device.

  • In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah vividly expresses his grief over the destruction of the city.

  • Many scholars study Lamentations to understand the themes of sorrow and loss in biblical literature.

Synonyms

Book of Lamentations
vsLamentations
1 9.0

A book of the Bible with sad poems about Jerusalem's destruction

is the same text but uses the shorter traditional title

Compounds

Book of Lamentations
1 9.0

A book of the Bible with sad poems about Jerusalem's destruction

Surface Forms

Lamentations main

Morphology

Lamentations = lamentation (transparent) = lament + ation + s

The book title is a plural noun formed from 'lamentation' (lament + -ation), and its meaning as a collection of laments is directly derived from the base.

Etymology

Lamentations comes from the word lament, which means 'to cry out in sadness', and the ending -ations shows many acts or expressions. It is the name of the Bible book made of poems that are like 'cries' of sorrow about the fall of Jerusalem, so the title matches the book's sad content.