• (British) IPA: /əˈlæs/, /əˈlɑːs/
• (America) IPA: /əˈlæs/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ɘˈlɛs/

1. ngd Used to express sorrow, regret, compassion or grief.

   Synonyms: alack

   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals):

     Act V, Scene I

     Alas, 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.

• French: hélas
• German: leider, ach, bedauerlicherweise, weh
• Italian: ahimè, purtroppo
• Portuguese: ai de mim
• Russian: увы́
• Spanish: ay, ay de mí, aymé, aj, vay, heu, guay

alas (plural alases)

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