ENGLISH
REFERENCE

pitiful

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈpɪtəfəɫ// UK //pˈɪtifəl// piti·ful Archaic Dialect Informal

adj. describing something that is so sad or weak that it makes you feel sorry for it. It can also describe something that is very bad or not good enough.

adj. evoking a sense of compassion or contempt due to suffering, inadequacy, or smallness. Often used to describe an amount or quality that is disappointingly low.


SIMPLE

The hungry kitten let out a pitiful cry.

CONTEXTUAL

The team's performance was pitiful, as they failed to score a single point during the entire game.

COMPLEX

The refugees lived in pitiful conditions, lacking basic necessities like clean water and adequate shelter after the storm destroyed their village.

Synonyms
Origin

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

Usage

Often used predicatively after linking verbs like 'look' or 'seem', or attributively before a noun.

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