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deplorable

[dih-plawr-uh-buh l, -plohr-]
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adjective
  1. causing or being a subject for grief or regret; lamentable: the deplorable death of a friend.
  2. causing or being a subject for censure, reproach, or disapproval; wretched; very bad: This room is in deplorable order. You have deplorable manners!
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Origin of deplorable

1605–15; < French déplorable < Middle French, equivalent to deplor(er) (see deplore) + -able -able
Related formsde·plor·a·ble·ness, de·plor·a·bil·i·ty, nounde·plor·a·bly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for deplorably

Historical Examples

  • Running at a low level, the waters of that stream were deplorably dirty.

    'Tis Sixty Years Since

    Charles Francis Adams

  • I was drunk, deplorably drunk, and I was bound for the Tivoli.

    The Trail of '98

    Robert W. Service

  • He was not only innocent, but deplorably—I might even say guiltily—innocent.

  • How deplorably short-sighted are the wise ones of your world.

    Mizora: A Prophecy

    Mary E. Bradley

  • We hasten to assert that in our case the imputation is deplorably incorrect.

British Dictionary definitions for deplorably

deplorable

adjective
  1. lamentablea deplorable lack of taste
  2. worthy of censure or reproach; very baddeplorable behaviour
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Derived Formsdeplorableness or deplorability, noundeplorably, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deplorably

deplorable

adj.

1610s; see deplore + -able. Perhaps from French déplorable or directly from Late Latin deplorabilis. Johnson (mid-18c.) noted the weakened colloquial use of the word for "very bad." Related: Deplorably.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper