piteous

[pit-ee-uhs]

adjective

1. evoking or deserving pity; pathetic.

   piteous cries for help.

   Synonyms: sorrowful, wretched, sad, woeful, lamentable, moving, affecting

2. Archaic.,  compassionate.

piteous

/ ˈpɪtɪəs /

adjective

1. exciting or deserving pity

2. archaic,  having or expressing pity

Other Word Forms

• piteously adverb
• piteousness noun
• overpiteous adjective
• overpiteously adverb
• overpiteousness noun
• unpiteous adjective
• unpiteously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of piteous¹

1250–1300; Middle English; replacing pitous < Old French < Medieval Latin pietōsus. See pity, -ous

Synonym Study

See pitiful.

Example Sentences

But Mr. Abeysekera’s lively turn makes Hamlet’s death feel that much more piteous—a young man of limitless intellect and energies cut down before his life has properly begun.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

From the cabin next door came Olive’s piteous moans and a deep voice.

Read more on Literature

But Homes retains a quality of resigned sympathy with these anxious, immensely self-important characters — a tincture of compassion that makes them feel all the more piteous.

Read more on Washington Post

As I type this — alone in an upstairs room — a piteous sound is issuing from the floor below.

Read more on Washington Post

Humanlike figures are squashed, tortured and consumed by roaming brutes; piteous squawks and rattles pepper a soundtrack soothed by Dan Wool’s moving musical score.

Read more on New York Times