woeful

Also wo·ful

[woh-fuhl]

adjective

1. full of woe; wretched; unhappy.

   a woeful situation.

2. affected with, characterized by, or indicating woe.

   woeful melodies.

3. of wretched quality; sorry; poor.

   a woeful collection of paintings.

   Synonyms: awful, dreadful, unlikely, unpromising

woeful

/ ˈwəʊfəl /

adjective

1. expressing or characterized by sorrow

2. bringing or causing woe

3. pitiful; miserable

   a woeful standard of work

Other Word Forms

• woefully adverb
• woefulness noun
• unwoeful adjective
• unwoefulness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of woeful¹

A Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; woe, -ful

Example Sentences

The Louvre has transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France after a spectacular daylight heist exposed woeful flaws in museum's security.

Read more on BBC

But for a film about exploiting systems for their power at a great cost, it’s baffling that “The Perfect Neighbor” lodges its most violent, woeful images to a similarly careless extent.

Read more on Salon

Ending Tottenham's 17-year trophy drought, and securing qualification for this season's Champions League in the process, was not enough to save him from the axe following a woeful Premier League campaign.

Read more on Barron's

The result eased pressure that had been mounting on the Portuguese head coach in the aftermath of a woeful defeat at Brentford the week before.

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When Shohei Ohtani was asked about his woeful performance at the plate in the Dodgers’ National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies last week, he first gave credit to the opposition.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• appalling 
• awful 
• calamitous 
• deplorable 
• disappointing 
• disastrous 
• dreadful 
• feeble 
• grim 
• lamentable 
• lousy 
• miserable 
• paltry 
• pathetic 
• pitiful 
• shocking 
• sorry 
• wretched