Wretch

//ɹɛt͡ʃ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An unhappy, unfortunate, or miserable person.

    "The poor wretch, who lay motionless a long time, just began to recover his senses as a stage-coach came by."

  2. 2
    someone you feel sorry for wordnet
  3. 3
    An unpleasant, annoying, worthless, or despicable person.

    "Swear to me but, thou bold wretch! said she, swear to me, that Pamela Andrews is really and truly thy lawful wife, without sham, without deceit, without double-meaning; and I know what I have to say!"

  4. 4
    performs some wicked deed wordnet
  5. 5
    An exile. archaic
Verb
  1. 1
    Misspelling of retch. alt-of, misspelling

Synonyms

All synonyms
poor devilabjectbeachcomberbeggarbeggarly fellowblackguard

Antonyms

All antonyms
friend

Example

More examples

"What now, you wretch? You thinking of protecting her?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrecche, from Old English wreċċa (“exile, outcast”), from Proto-Germanic *wrakjô (“exile, fugitive, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to track, follow”). Doublet of garçon.

Etymology 2

From confusion with the noun.

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