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pitiful - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'pitiful' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Pitiful [ a.]
- Full of pity; tender-hearted; compassionate; kind; merciful; sympathetic.
- Piteous; lamentable; eliciting compassion.
- To be pitied for littleness or meanness; miserable; paltry; contemptible; despicable.

Meaning of 'pitiful' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . pitiful [ s]
Meaning (1):
- deserving or inciting pity
Example in sentence:
  • a hapless victim;
  • a pitiful fate;
  • a wretched life;
  • his poor distorted limbs;
  • miserable victims of war;
  • Oh, you poor thing;
  • piteous appeals for help;
  • pitiable homeless children;
  • the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic
Meaning (2):
- bad; unfortunate
Example in sentence:
  • a lamentable decision;
  • a sorry state of affairs;
  • her clothes were in sad shape;
  • my finances were in a deplorable state
Meaning (3):
- inspiring mixed contempt and pity
Example in sentence:
  • pitiable lack of character;
  • pitiful exhibition of cowardice;
  • their efforts were pathetic

Nearby Words:

pit pit-hole pita pitahaya pitapat pitch pitch-black pitch-dark pitch-faced pitch-ore

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