Pietà
Americannoun
noun
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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.
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
There are two Pietà images in the exhibition.
From New York Times • Dec. 12, 2022
I took all the time in the world at the Pietà.
From Washington Post • Nov. 21, 2022
Boecklin painted a Pietà in which the Virgin has thrown herself over the dead body of Christ in an agony of grief, her whole form being covered by a cloak.
From Art Principles With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter by Govett, Ernest
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.