take pity on

1. Also, have pity on. Show compassion or mercy to, as in Take pity on the cook and eat that last piece of cake, or, as Miles Coverdale's 1535 translation of the Bible has it (Job 19:21), “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye, my friends.” This idiom may be used half-jokingly, as in the first example, or seriously. [Late 1200s]

Example Sentences

I waved my arms at the caravan guards and hoped they would take pity on me.

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I stepped into the light of the doorway so he would see my monkish robes and maybe take pity on us.

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He told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show: "I am hoping the first minister will take pity on us and give us more money for Angus Council."

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“I just have to have faith for a miracle to happen and the government to take pity on old people like me.”

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A poor Caribbean couple in Paris take pity on their deposed president when they find him living in poverty and exile.

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Related Words

• feel for 
• forgive 
• pardon