The pitiful sight moved us to tears.
Source: tatoeba (20381)
Pitiful
//ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩//
Synonyms for "pitiful" (192 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (39)
Strong matches (57)
Related words (96)
movingnastynefariousnoisomenotoriousobnoxiousodiousoffensiveopprobriousoutrageouspaltrypiteouspitiableplaintivepoignantpoorrankregrettablereprehensiblerepulsive
Show 40 more words
rottenrubbishyruefulsadscandalousschlockscrubbyscruffyscummyscurvyscuzzyshabbyshamefulshockingshoddysmallsordidsorrysqualidterribletoo badtouchingtrashytriflingtrumperytwo-for-a-centtwo-for-a-pennytwopennytwopenny-halfpennyunbecominguncleanunimportantunworthy of onevaluelessvilevillainouswoefulworstworthlesswretched
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Synonyms
3 entriesRelated terms
2 entriesderived
2 entriesderived from
1 entriesrelated to
9 entriessimilar
3 entriesTranslations
56 translations across 25 languages.
Ancient Greek
1 entries- οἰκτρός adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Belarusian
1 entries- жа́ласны adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Bulgarian
3 entries- жалък adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- клет adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- нищожен adj (of an amount or number: very small)
Catalan
2 entries- lamentable adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- miserable adj (of an amount or number: very small)
Chinese Cantonese
1 entries- 慘 /惨 adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Chinese Mandarin
2 entries- 可憐 /可怜 adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- 很少 adj (of an amount or number: very small)
Dutch
1 entries- zielig adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Finnish
2 entries- säälittävä adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- säälittävä adj (of an amount or number: very small)
French
2 entries- dérisoire adj (of an amount or number: very small)
- pitoyable adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
German
4 entries- Mitleid erregend adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- armselig adj (of an amount or number: very small)
- bedauernswert adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- bemitleidenswert adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Greek
1 entries- αξιολύπητος adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Ingrian
1 entries- poloin adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Japanese
1 entries- 可憐な adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Latin
2 entries- flēbilis adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- miser adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Māori
2 entries- hanga aroha adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- whakaaroha adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Navajo
1 entries- baa hojoobáʼí adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Norman
1 entries- pitchiabl'ye adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Norwegian bokmål
1 entries- arm adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Norwegian nynorsk
1 entries- arm adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Polish
1 entries- żałosny adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Portuguese
1 entries- lamentável adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Russian
4 entries- бе́дненький adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- жа́лкий adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- жа́лкий adj (of an amount or number: very small)
- жа́лостливый adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Sichuanese
1 entries- 造孽 adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Spanish
4 entries- achará adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- lamentoso adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- lastimero adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
- lastimoso adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Ukrainian
1 entries- жа́лісний adj (so appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it)
Sample sentences
15 total sentences available.
The little girl, deeply moved by the old man's pitiful story, burst into tears.
Source: tatoeba (46423)
The pitiful tale fetched tears from the girl.
Source: tatoeba (49686)
He's unlucky to a pitiful extent.
Source: tatoeba (295116)
Showing 4 of 15 available sentences.
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.