Pietà
noun
a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ, usually shown held on her lap.
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Piec.
Pietà
American
[pee-ey-tah, pyey-tah, pee-ey-tuh, pyey-]
/ ˌpi eɪˈtɑ, pjeɪˈtɑ, piˈeɪ tə, ˈpjeɪ- /
noun
(sometimes lowercase)
pietà
British
/ pɪɛˈtɑː /
noun
Pietà
Cultural
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The most famous of four Pietàs by Michelangelo is a sculpture at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
Etymology
Origin of Pietà
1635–45; < Italian: literally, pity < Latin pietās piety; cf. pity
Vocabulary lists containing pieta
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.
See Examples For:
The most elucidating superimposes a Pietà by Anne-Louis Girodet, David’s little-known pupil, over David’s “Marat.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
Last year, the local alderman threatened to downzone the church property, reducing its value to developers, and its Pietà had to be moved from the church with a police escort.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2023
He said in an interview that the situation with the Mona Lisa had become reminiscent of the World’s Fair in New York in 1964 when overenthusiastic visitors viewed Michelangelo’s Pietà from a moving walkway.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
I took all the time in the world at the Pietà.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
On the walls he painted S. Catherine, S. Nicholas, the Annunciation, and Jesus Christ at the Column; and, in an arch over the door of the said church, a Pietà, S. John, and Our Lady.
From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 02 (of 10), Berna to Michelozzo Michelozzi by De Vere, Gaston du C.
For Taylor, this outrage from the newspapers becomes a pietà, driven by an intimacy based not on actual acquaintance but rather on personal identification.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 23, 2018
That makes the play’s closing pietà risible when it should be moving.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2011
When Julius looked up, his eyes rested upon the bronze pietà, age-old witness to the sanctity of motherhood and of suffering alike.
From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Malet, Lucas
When sorely tempted to purloin Your pietà of Marc Antoine, Fair Virtue doth fair play enjoin, Fair Virtuoso!
From A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker by Locker-Lampson, Hannah Jane
It was painted by Moretto of Brescia, of whom Lanzi truly says that his sacred subjects express la compunzione, la pietà, la carità istessa; and this picture is an instance.
From Legends of the Madonna as Represented in the Fine Arts by Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
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.
