mourner

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US/ˈmɔɹnɚ/UK/ˈmɔːnə//ˈmo(ː)ɹnɚ//ˈmoənə/

noun

Someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness, especially over a death; someone who mourns.

UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

nounmourner (plural mourners)

plural mourners

  1. Someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness, especially over a death; someone who mourns.

    I stood close to heartsick mourners and worried that I would not sustain the enormousness of their spiritual weight.

    2024 September 17, Lauren DePino, “I Sang at Hundreds of Funerals. This Is What I Learned About Grief.”, in The New York Times Magazine
    1 more example

    Disuniter of all affection—awful seal to life's nothingness—warning and witness of power and judgment—Death has always enow of terror and sorrow, even when there are many to comfort the mourner, when the path has been smoothed for the sufferer, and life offers all its best and brightest to soothe the survivor; […]

    1830, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Juvenile Forget Me Not 1831, The Miniature, pages 37–45
  2. A person attending a funeral or otherwise participating in rituals related to bereavement.

    Looking out the door I see the rain / Fall upon the funeral mourners / Parading in a wake of sad relations / As their shoes fill up with water

    1995, “Lover, You Should've Come Over”, in Grace (Folk Pop), performed by Jeff Buckley, United States
  3. In certain cultures, a person hired to participate in funerary rituals, sometimes by making a conspicuous and/or conventional show of grief; hired mourner.
  4. Any of a number of suboscine birds in the related families Tityridae and Tyrannidae.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna person who is feeling grief (as grieving over someone who has died)

Broader
unfortunateunfortunate person

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishmourner
  2. Englishmourner

From Middle English mourner, mornere, equivalent to mourn + -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian опечален
  • опечален (opečalen)someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Finnish surija
  • surijasomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
German Trauernder, Trauernde
  • Trauerndersomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • Trauerndesomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Latin plōrātor m. praefica
  • plōrātor m. praeficasomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Māori kirimate, kiriwera
  • kirimatesomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • kiriwerasomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • paematesomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Polish żałobnik, żałobnica
  • żałobniksomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • żałobnicasomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Russian пла́кальщик
  • пла́кальщик (plákalʹščik)someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Swahili mfiwa, mwombolezaji
  • mfiwasomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • mwombolezajisomeone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
Yiddish קלאָגער, קלאָגערין
  • קלאָגער (kloger)someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • קלאָגערין (klogerin)someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness
  • אָבֿל (ovl)someone filled with or expressing grief or sadness

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with mourner

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

mourner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mourner

MLA

“mourner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mourner. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mourner,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mourner.

Source: mourner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.