Alas

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑːs
• IPA: /əˈlas/

From Old French a las (French hélas), from a ("ah") + las, from Latin lassus ("weary").

Full definition of alas

Interjection

1. Used to express sorrow, regret, compassion or grief.
• Shakespeare Hamlet Act 5, Scene 1Alas, Poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.

Synonyms

• alack

Derived terms

• alack and alas

From Yakut алаас.

Noun

1. a type of depression which occurs in Yakutia, formed by the subsidence of permafrost

Anagrams

• aals, Lasa