Pitiful

//ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩// adj, adv, slang

adj, adv, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

    "Scotland has a pitiful climate."

  2. 2
    Of an amount or number: very small.

    "A pitiful number of students bothered to turn up."

  3. 3
    Feeling pity; merciful. archaic

    "Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull."

Adjective
  1. 1
    inspiring mixed contempt and pity wordnet
  2. 2
    deserving or inciting pity wordnet
  3. 3
    bad; unfortunate wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically. colloquial, dialectal

    "‘She followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall[.]’"

Synonyms

All synonyms
patheticslighttin-potabominableaffectingarrant

Example

More examples

"The pitiful sight moved us to tears."

Etymology

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful. By surface analysis, pit(i) + -ful.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.