Pietà
noun
a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ, usually shown held on her lap.
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:
It reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà was removed directly from inside a secure display case, while all the paintings taken were on wooden panels, preventing them from easily being rolled up.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
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
I took all the time in the world at the Pietà.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
He was educated at the Conservatorio de la Pietà of Naples, and began his career when seventeen years of age, as the composer of an opera, I Puntigli delle Donne.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 by Various
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 Lucas Malet
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 Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
Above the range of pigeon-holes and little drawers, forming the back of the writing-table, two candles burned on either side of a bronze pietà, which Julius had brought back with him from Rome.
From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Lucas Malet
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.
