An exclamation of lamentation for one's misfortune. The phrase appears in the Bible (Isaiah 6:5) and Shakespeare's Hamlet (act 3, scene 1), and is typically used ironically or sarcastically. (If used in a straightforward way, it would sound old-fashioned and melodramatic.) A: "So you're annoyed that, because of your raise, you'll have to start paying higher taxes each paycheck?" B: "Yeah, I know, woe is me, right?" "O, woe is me! I have to get up at 8:30 in the morning for my high-paying job!" That's how you sound right now. Oh how the stars themselves conspire against me! My life is beset by all manner of ill fortune! O, woe is me!