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pitiful

American  
[pit-i-fuhl] / ˈpɪt ɪ fəl /

adjective

  1. evoking or deserving pity.

    a pitiful fate.
    Synonyms:
    pathetic, woeful, deplorable, lamentable
    Antonyms:
    delightful

  2. evoking or deserving contempt by smallness, poor quality, etc..

    pitiful attempts.
    Synonyms:
    despicable, vile, base, low, mean, deplorable
    Antonyms:
    honorable

  3. Archaic. full of pity; compassionate.

pitiful British  
/ ˈpɪtɪfʊl /

adjective

  1. arousing or deserving pity

  2. arousing or deserving contempt

  3. archaic full of pity or compassion

"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

Related Words

Pitiful, pitiable, piteous apply to that which excites pity (with compassion or with contempt). That which is pitiful is touching and excites pity or is mean and contemptible: a pitiful leper; a pitiful exhibition of cowardice. Pitiable may mean lamentable, or wretched and paltry: a pitiable hovel. Piteous refers only to that which exhibits suffering and misery, and is therefore heart-rending: piteous poverty.

Other Word Forms

  • pitifully adverb
  • pitifulness noun
  • self-pitiful adjective
  • self-pitifully adverb
  • self-pitifulness noun
  • unpitiful adjective
  • unpitifully adverb
  • unpitifulness noun

Etymology

Origin of pitiful

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; pity, -ful

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.