deplorable

CEFRB2

/dɪˈplɔːɹəbl̩/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very bad and deserving strong criticism.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    A person or thing that is to be deplored.

Examples

  • It is deplorable that she is so selfish.

  • The road is in a deplorable state.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /dəˈplɔɹəb(ə)l/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. To be deplored.

  2. To be felt sorrow for; worthy of compassion; lamentable.

  3. Deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad, wretched.

More examples

In context
  • Poor children suffer permanent damage due to deplorable living conditions and deplorable treatment by law enforcement.

  • We were all saddened by the deplorable death of his son.

  • Poor children are often accused of having deplorable manners, when they are, in fact, simply responding to society in ways that mirror how society treats them.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The landlord's neglect left the apartment in a truly blank condition.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The adjective is borrowed from French déplorable (“lamentable, regrettable”), or from its etymon Late Latin dēplōrābilis + English -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant to, suitable to’). Dēplōrābilis is derived from Latin dēplōrō (“to bemoan, complain about; to bewail, lament, deplore”) + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while dēplōrō is from dē- (intensifying prefix) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain; to lament, deplore”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). By surface analysis, deplore + -able. The noun is derived from the adjective. Noun sense 2 refers to a campaign speech by the American politician and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Cl...