Word.ws English Dictionary

alack and alas

alack and alas interjection: used to express regret or sadness.

Interjection

  1. Used to express regret or sadness.

Origin of alack and alas

An idiom combining a pair of terms with similar meaning. The first syllable in each word is like a sigh; las is from Old French meaning weariness; and lack is from Middle English meaning loss.

Questions about alack and alas

What does alack and alas mean?
Alack and alas means used to express regret or sadness.
What part of speech is alack and alas?
Alack and alas is an interjection.

Words near alack and alas in the dictionary

  1. alachlor
  2. Alachua
  3. Alachua County
  4. alacizumab
  5. alack
  6. alack and alas
  7. alackaday
  8. alacranite
  9. alacrified
  10. alacrifies
  11. alacrify

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alack and alas (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “alack and alas.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alack_and_alas. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.