pitiful

English

Alternative forms

• pitifull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English pityful, piteful, piteeful, equivalent to pity +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪt.ɪ.fl̩/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

pitiful (comparative pitifuller, superlative pitifullest)

1. (now rare) Feeling pity; merciful.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus:  (First Quarto), London: Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, , published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners became more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.

2. So appalling or sad that one feels or should feel sorry for it; eliciting pity.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lamentable

   Scotland has a pitiful climate.

3. Of an amount or number: very small.

   A pitiful number of students bothered to turn up.

Related terms

• pitiable
• pity

Translations

Adverb

pitiful (comparative more pitiful, superlative most pitiful)

1. (colloquial, dialect) In a pitiful manner; pitifully; piteously; pathetically.
   • 1906, Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill, London: Penguin Books, published 1994, page 194:

     ‘She followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall[.]’

Translations