adv ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb

1. 1
   In a pitiful manner.

   "The coral faded even from her lips, till they were as white as Leo's face, and quivered pitifully."

Adverb

1. 1
   to a pitiful degree wordnet

Example

More examples

"Why do the children cry pitifully?"

Etymology

From Middle English petefully, petifullie, pyttyfully, pytyffully; equivalent to pitiful + -ly.

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