pitiful
Americanadjective
-
evoking or deserving pity.
a pitiful fate.
- Synonyms:
- pathetic, woeful, deplorable, lamentable
- Antonyms:
- delightful
-
evoking or deserving contempt by smallness, poor quality, etc..
pitiful attempts.
- Synonyms:
- despicable, vile, base, low, mean, deplorable
- Antonyms:
- honorable
-
Archaic. full of pity; compassionate.
adjective
-
arousing or deserving pity
-
arousing or deserving contempt
-
archaic full of pity or compassion
Related Words
Pitiful, pitiable, piteous apply to that which excites pity (with compassion or with contempt). That which is pitiful is touching and excites pity or is mean and contemptible: a pitiful leper; a pitiful exhibition of cowardice. Pitiable may mean lamentable, or wretched and paltry: a pitiable hovel. Piteous refers only to that which exhibits suffering and misery, and is therefore heart-rending: piteous poverty.
Other Word Forms
- pitifully adverb
- pitifulness noun
- self-pitiful adjective
- self-pitifully adverb
- self-pitifulness noun
- unpitiful adjective
- unpitifully adverb
- unpitifulness noun
Etymology
Origin of pitiful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All he did was open his big mouth and utter that low, pitiful cry.
From Literature
Chip asked, and this, too, came out sounding pitiful.
From Literature
"How pitiful," he said, lowering a thermometer into the water.
From Barron's
I liked that Ronnie was a competitor, because that meant he was going to try and this whole thing wasn’t going to be as boring or pitiful as I thought.
From Literature
But still, in the scheme of things she was way ahead, and she was acting all poor-me pitiful, and it got him irritated.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
