pitiful

[pit-i-fuh l] /ˈpɪt ɪ fəl/

adjective

evoking or deserving pity:

a pitiful fate.

evoking or deserving contempt by smallness, poor quality, etc.:

pitiful attempts.

Archaic. full of pity; compassionate.

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English; see pity, -ful

Related forms

pitifully, adverb

pitifulness, noun

self-pitiful, adjective

self-pitifully, adverb

self-pitifulness, noun

unpitiful, adjective

unpitifully, adverb

unpitifulness, noun

Can be confused

piteous, pitiable, pitiful, pitiless (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms

1. lamentable, deplorable, woeful, pathetic. 1, 2. Pitiful, pitiable, piteous apply to that which excites pity (with compassion or with contempt). That which is pitiful is touching and excites pity or is mean and contemptible: a pitiful leper; a pitiful exhibition of cowardice. Pitiable may mean lamentable, or wretched and paltry: a pitiable hovel. Piteous refers only to that which exhibits suffering and misery, and is therefore heart-rending: piteous poverty. 2. deplorable, mean, low, base, vile, despicable.

Antonyms

1. delightful. 2. honorable.

Examples from the web for pitiful

But there are three portable exercising aids that render the usual excuses pitiful.
Your pitiful attempt to be courteous was an abysmal failure.
Peace is holding in troubled north of the country, but the economy there remains in a pitiful state.
But the testing program the agency plans to use is only a pitiful skeleton of what it needs to be.
It's easy too see these imitators as pitiful and annoying.
The endless bawling of calves being separated from their mothers sounded doubly pitiful today here at the auction block.
The toll-keeper seemed to be also conscious of the touching and pitiful nature of the occasion.
In both countries a lack of capital has produced pitiful fishing fleets.
But they can't because they weigh way too much for the pitiful capacity they hold.
The returns they are getting on their savings look increasingly pitiful.

British Dictionary definitions for pitiful

pitiful

/ˈpɪtɪfʊl/

adjective

arousing or deserving pity

arousing or deserving contempt

(archaic) full of pity or compassion

Derived Forms

pitifully, adverb
pitifulness, noun

Word Origin and History for pitiful

adj.

c.1300, "merciful, compassionate" (implied in pitifully), from pity + -ful. Sense of "exciting or deserving pity" is from mid-15c.; that of "mean, wretched, contemptible" is 1580s. Related: Pitifulness.