Alas! an exclamation of pain or grief. See woe, n.n. Grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.n. A heavy calamity; an affliction.n. It is also used in exclamations of sorrow, in such cases the noun or pronoun following being really in the dative.n. Synonyms Distress, tribulation, affliction, bitterness, unhappiness, wretchedness. Woe is an intense unhappiness; the word is strong aud elevated, almost poetical.Sad; sorrowful; miserable; woeful; wretched.