wretched
Americanadjective
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very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable.
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characterized by or attended with misery and sorrow.
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despicable, contemptible, or mean.
a wretched miser.
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poor, sorry, or pitiful; worthless.
a wretched job of sewing.
adjective
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in poor or pitiful circumstances
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characterized by or causing misery
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despicable; base
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poor, inferior, or paltry
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(prenominal) (intensifier qualifying something undesirable)
a wretched nuisance
Synonym Usage
Wretched, miserable, sorry refer to that which is unhappy, afflicted, or distressed. Wretched refers to a condition of extreme affliction or distress, especially as outwardly apparent: wretched hovels. Miserable refers more to the inward feeling of unhappiness or distress: a miserable life. Sorry applies to distressed, often poverty-stricken outward circumstances; but it has connotations of unworthiness, incongruousness, or the like, so that the beholder feels more contempt than pity: in a sorry plight.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wretched
First recorded in 1150–1200, wretched is from the Middle English word wrecchede. See wretch, -ed 3
Explanation
The fairy tale Cinderella gives us many examples of uses for the word wretched. Poor Cinderella had a wretched childhood, living in wretched conditions with a wretched stepmother. It would be enough to make anyone feel wretched, or absolutely terrible. Wretched is an all-around unhappy word. If you're very ill, heartbroken, or riddled with guilt, you may feel wretched. This word is also used to describe awful living conditions. If your cabin at sleep-away camp is freezing cold and rat-infested, you could describe it as wretched. And if you truly don't like someone, you might call that person wretched — though maybe not to his or her face.
Vocabulary lists containing wretched
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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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:
In that case, you will likely find yourself traveling to or from the concourse on a wretched holdover of mid-century transportation design: the people mover.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Hopefully the generation of Gen Z musicians depicted in the film still lust over the chance to try, even as a wretched economy makes road-dogging harder today while digital fame beckons instead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
They’re given to those buckling under the wretched weight of their surrounding world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Had Quins not had such a wretched season, more of the spotlight might have been on Sale.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
It was wretched, but it might have helped.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
No roads were wretcheder than theirs; nobody cared less than they.
From The Henchman by Mark Lee Luther
Especially wretched young men; and the wretcheder one is, the more one smokes; and the more one smokes, the wretcheder one gets—a vicious circle!
From Peter Ibbetson by George Du Maurier
Yes," sighed Lady Jean; "but Moira would be wretcheder because she would always be thinking of Reggy.
Let us hope not until social order has been transformed, lest they should only give more to those who have, and leave the wretched still wretcheder by force of contrast.
From Annie Besant An Autobiography by Annie Wood Besant
There’s nowt more wretcheder an we, Or worthier an the rich, I praises ’em for bein’ born, An’ ’eaven for makin’ sich.
From The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit by Richard Harris
Last week, on the 19th anniversary of that historic Dempsey-Carpentier battle, Jersey City was the scene of another heavyweight prize fight that will probably go down in history as the wretchedest of the post-Dempsey era.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the wretchedest slum quarter of Partinico. a pinched little town near Palermo, a man lay starving last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
Rotten, rotten old world," broke out Eleanor suddenly, "and the wretchedest thing of all is me—oh, why am I a girl?
From This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
A houn' that ain't happy at best, he's melancholy; an' a houn' that ain't allowed to run free is of all critters the wretchedest.
From O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919 by Various
And this the wretchedest of all, That when upon your lonely eyes The last faint heaviness shall fall, Ye shall bethink you of our cries.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 2 by Hamilton Wright Mabie
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.
