What does Alas mean?

Definitions for Alas
əˈlæs, əˈlɑsalas

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Alas.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. unfortunately, unluckily, regrettably, alasadverb

    by bad luck

    "unfortunately it rained all day"; "alas, I cannot stay"

Wiktionary

  1. alasinterjection

    Used to express sorrow, regret, compassion or grief.

  2. Etymology: From a las (French hélas), from a + las, from lassus.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Alasinterject.

    Etymology: helas, Fr. eylaes, Dutch.

    But yet, alas! O but yet alas! our haps be but hard haps. Philip Sidney, b. i.

    Alas! how little from the grave we claim?
    Thou but preserv’st a form, and I a name. Alexander Pope, Epist.

    Alas! poor Protheus, thou hast entertain’d
    A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs. William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona.

    Thus saith the Lord God, Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel. Ezekiel, vi. 11.

    Alas! both for the deed, and for the cause! John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. xi. l. 461.

    Alas! for pity of this bloody field;
    Piteous indeed must be, when I, a spirit,
    Can have so soft a sense of human woes. John Dryden, K. Arthur.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Alas

    an exclamation expressive of sorrow, pity, or apprehension of evil; -- in old writers, sometimes followed by day or white; alas the day, like alack a day, or alas the white

  2. Etymology: [OE. alas, allas, OF. alas, F. hlas; a interj. (L. ah.) + las wretched (that I am), L. lassus weary, akin to E. late. See Late.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Alas

    a-las′, interj. expressive of grief.—Alas the day, Alas the while (in old writers), ah! unhappy day, or time. [O. Fr. ha las, a las (mod. Fr. hélas); ha! and las, lasse, wretched, weary—L. lassus, wearied.]

Suggested Resources

  1. alas

    Song lyrics by alas -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by alas on the Lyrics.com website.

  2. ALAS

    What does ALAS stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the ALAS acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. ALAS

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Alas is ranked #7619 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Alas surname appeared 4,358 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Alas.

    92.4% or 4,030 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    3.8% or 166 total occurrences were White.
    2.5% or 109 total occurrences were Asian.
    0.7% or 34 total occurrences were Black.
    0.2% or 10 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.2% or 9 total occurrences were of two or more races.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Alas in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Alas in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Alas in a Sentence

  1. Letitia Elizabeth Landon:

    Alas ! the contrast between us, and what We can create; That man should be so little in himself, His works so great.

  2. Søren Kierkegaard, Asluttende uvidenskabeligt Efterskrift:

    Alas! While the speculative honourable professor explains the entire existence has he in distraction forgotten his own name, that he is a man, purely and simply a man, not a fantastic 38 of a paragraph.

  3. Miguel de Cervantes:

    Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune.

  4. Sydney Smith:

    I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

  5. Goethe:

    We cannot too soon convince ourselves how easily we may be dispensed with in the world. What important personages we imagine ourselves to be! We think that we alone are the life of the circle in which we move; in our absence, we fancy that life, existence, breath will come to a general pause, and, alas, the gap which we leave is scarcely perceptible, so quickly is it filled again; nay, it is often the place, if not of something better, at least for something more agreeable.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Alas#10000#16037#100000

Translations for Alas

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"Alas." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Alas>.

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