wretched

English

Etymology

From Middle English wrecched (“(adjective) characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; (noun) miserable person”) , from wrecche (“characterized by or suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, unfortunate, unhappy; indigent, poor; of low economic or social status, lowly; base, contemptible, vile; reprehensible, wicked; miserly, stingy; of little importance, paltry, worthless”) (from Late Old English wrecc, from Old English wreċċa (“an exile, outcast”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to follow, track; to hunt”)) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as wretch (“(obsolete) wretched”, adjective) +‎ -ed (suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛt͡ʃəd/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wretch‧ed

Adjective

wretched (comparative more wretched, superlative most wretched)

1. Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.

   Synonyms: dejected, (archaic or obsolete) wretchful; see also Thesaurus:lamentable, Thesaurus:sad

   I felt wretched after my wife died.

   • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Arbour of Vertue, ”, in The Rocke of Regard, , London: for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard,  (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, , →OCLC, page 174:

     Oh (men forlorne) how wretched is our ſtate, / Whome heaven and earth oppreſſe with heapes of hate!

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 199, column 2:

     [W]ho might be your mother / That you inſult, exult, and all at once / Ouer the vvretched?

     A noun use.

   • 1622 May 24 (licensing date), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 33, column 2:

     Sir, / vve are no Spinſters; nor, if you look upon us, / ſo vvretched as you take us.

   • 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: A Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, , published 1768, →OCLC, page 160, lines 1289–1292:

     Let theſe / Inſnare the vvretched in the toils of lavv, / Fomenting diſcord, and perplexing right, / An iron race!

     A noun use.

   • 1794 May 8, Ann Radcliffe, chapter I, in The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; , 2nd edition, volume IV, London: G. G. and J. Robinson, , →OCLC, page 12:

     […] Emily ſtood, ſilent and trembling, vvretched for herſelf and dreading to leave him in this ſtate of mind.

   • 1796, Robert Southey, “Book the Ninth”, in Joan of Arc, an Epic Poem, Bristol: Bulgin and Rosser, for Joseph Cottle, , and Cadell and Davies, and G. G. and J. Robinson, , →OCLC, pages 346–347, lines 618–621:

     From thence they came, / VVhere, in the next VVard, a most vvretched band / Groan'd underneath the bitter tyranny / Of a fierce Dæmon; […]

   • 1918, Maxim Gorky, “My Fellow-traveller”, in J. M. Shirazi , transl., Creatures that Once were Men , New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, →OCLC, page 202:

     Every time the boat was thrown upward, Shakro shrieked wildly. As for me, I felt wretched and helpless, in the darkness, surrounded with angry waves, whose noise deafened me.

   • 2011 April 11, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 3 – 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 2023-01-27:

     Mario Balotelli replaced [Carlos] Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini.

2. Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly.

   The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , London: Nath Ponder , →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, , 1928, →OCLC, page 51:

     I had been here ſooner, but that, vvretched man that I am! I ſlept in the Arbour that ſtands on the Hillſide; nay, I had notvvithſtanding that, been here much ſooner, but that in my ſleep I loſt my Evidence, and came vvithout it to the brovv of the Hill; and then feeling for it, and finding it not, I vvas forced vvith ſorrovv of heart, to go back to the place vvhere I ſlept my ſleep, vvhere I found it, and novv I am come.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, page 117:

     From the foldings of its robe, it [the Ghost of Christmas Present] brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.

   • 1865, Thomas Carlyle, “Battle of Torgau”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume VI, London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC, book XX, page 135:

     So I have withdrawn, like a bad little boy, to conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest villages in Saxony.

   • 1913, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Letters from the Underworld: Part II: Apropos of the Falling Sleet”, in C[harles] J[ames] Hogarth, transl., edited by Ernest Rhys, Letters from the Underworld (Everyman’s Library; no. 654), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Sons; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co., published 1937, →OCLC, section III, page 79:

     […] Simonov would size me up, and despise me for my wretched vanity and want of spirit; […]

   • 1918, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Notes from Underground: A Novel: Part I: Underground”, in Constance Garnett, transl., White Nights and Other Stories  (The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky; X), New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section I, page 52:

     My room is a wretched, horrid one in the outskirts of the town.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 287:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of the casual labourer.

3. Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless.

   Synonyms: trifling; see also Thesaurus:insignificant

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 598:

     All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood – bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag, – were very largely a question of the money question which was at the back of everything, greed and jealousy, people never knowing when to stop.

4. Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner causing contempt; base, despicable, wicked.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:despicable

   • 1667, Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, “The Sixth Vision of Hell”, in R[oger] L[’Estrange], transl., The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, , London: H Herringman , →OCLC, page 247:

     But a Devil came in juſt in the God-ſpeed, and told them; Gentlemen Philoſophers, (ſays he) if you vvould knovv the VVretched'ſt, and moſt contemptible thing in the VVorld; It is an Alchymiſt: […]

5. Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable.
6. (informal) Used to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned.

   Synonyms: blasted, bleeding

   Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!

Derived terms

• wretchedly
• wretchedness

Related terms

Collocations

Translations

References

Further reading

• “wretched”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “wretched”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “wretched”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.